The Changing of How We Communicate

It is time to get serious about words and their impact on our lives.  It is time to stop this quick, 140-character, mindless junk that we are disbursing without thought.  It is time to work on building existing relationships rather than madly accumulating a series of meaningless new ones.While we have to adapt to the changing times and technology, and while we must learn to communicate with all the frequency and immediacy as these new tools allow, we should not rely solely on quick, unsubstantiated bursts as a replacement for in-depth communication.  We think we know each other and know what is going on in each other’s lives because we read blogs, Facebook status updates and tweets.  But with these briskly compiled and posted notes we are missing the emotion, the stories behind the stories, and the added information that comes about from a real conversation full of interruptions, laughter, what ifs and contradictions.Don’t misunderstand my concern as an objection to social media. Communication is my business.  I have a knack for technology.  So, I recognize that this onslaught of social media and its new tools are good for me.  But, I personally have a passion for words, learning and stories.  It is these things that I feel are rapidly disintegrating with the overuse of the technology.The key is balance.  How can we use all of these tools, yet enhance communication rather than diminish it?  Yes, it is easier to keep in touch with the technology.  But just “touching” is all we are doing.This is my prediction: we will soon see a swing back to “old-style” communicating in revolt against over-immersion in technology and over-stimulation by constant, quick bursts of information.So, while I will keep my Twitter feeds active, my iPhone and Blackberry close to my side, and my Google Reader open on my screen, I will also be writing letters and buying stamps to help balance my world of information sharing.