I think many new forms of communication make life easier. I am a big fan of blog (hence this blog) for keeping up with friends and family that live far away (although this does not replace actual conversations), I’m a fan of cell phones- I love to talk to my family, thanks to Verizon we can do this all we want, and I am a fan of email, especially in professional situations- I’m not a fan of talking to people on the phone that I don’t know. However, despite my affinity for these forms of technology there are some aspects of new technology that I am not quite as fond of. I hate communicating via Facebook and text messaging. Actually I hate text messaging. I really hate text message conversations. Don’t get me wrong I think they are appropriate in certain situations: finding people in crowded places, giving directions, wishing people happy birthday, setting a time to meet someone, testing when you can’t get hold of someone, getting simple messages across (like can you buy some milk at the grocery store?), or even telling someone to call you. I can’t think of very many other situations when that type of conversation is appropriate, mature, or necessary. I am always annoyed by the people constantly testing on their phones, why cant those people have normal conversations, and what the heck are they testing about- nothing important. I realize that many people think that my dislike of testing comes from the limited number of texts I receive, it doesn’t; it comes from the idea that long before texting was invented people survived.
I am also not a fan of Facebook, and I hate when people consider this a viable form of communication. It doesn’t replace a phone call or face-to-face conversation. Facebook is simply that- a Facebook, think of it as an electronic yearbook. It isn’t a place to announce major life events, it isn’t a place to meet people, and it isn’t a place to share your life story. It is simply a place to reconnect with people you haven’t spoken to in awhile, maybe see a few pictures, but not a place to communicate. I joined Facebook in the old phase, back before everyone could join, back in the day when you had to have a university email to be a member- those were the good old days before applications, high schoolers, and people that don’t belong on there. Those were also the days when Facebook was used for its’ original purpose- people didn’t use it as a dating service, email server, or phone call.
It seems like texting and Facebook are taking over as forms of communication- and I don’t think this is a positive thing.
The other day Brian and I were talking about writing letters or notes, and how most people our age don’t really do that. Some people still do- I consider these people to be the classy people, for some reason a note or a phone call has more weight to it than a message sent out to 200+ people. It says something like, “while this note is short and sloppy I took the time to write it, I respect you and the role you play in my life, I appreciate what you have done for me, and I wanted to thank you/let you know __________/ or let you know that I am thinking about you”, all that and more from a 2 line note. Don’t you remember the days when you could recognize who sent the note just by the handwriting? What happened to those days? To me phone calls are almost as important/viable as handwritten notes, the phone call says something like, “my life is busy, but I am taking the time to call and let you know that I care enough about you to slow my day down for 2 minutes and talk to you”, even the personal email says something like, “you are worth the 12 seconds that it took me to write this email, I care enough about you, the event, your life to pause from my life and write this email.” All of this is positive, personal, and relationship building- the texts, and Facebook posts say, “I’m lazy/too busy/ don’t care enough, and you don’t matter enough for me to slow down”- what a great message to send out.
Moral of the story- don’t send texts about important life events, or even less important life events, take the 2 minutes and send an email, letter, or make a phone call- it’s classy, considerate, and the right thing to do.
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