Technology - Helping us communicate?

Technology - Helping us communicate?

Technology has certainly advanced exponentially in the past 10-15 years, I recall being in high school and pagers was the thing that put you in the in crowd.

Then came cell phones, I remember when Motorola was super cool and I wish I had one.  Well, I did but its not the cell phone pictured on the right, I had a Motorola peanut phone with the customizable faceplates.

Now its 2010, with emails on mobile devices, Facebook (on your phone, on the internet, on your Gaming system), Twitter, iPhones, Android, Blackberry, Instant Messaging (AIM, yahoo, MSN, Google Chat), VoIP (Skype, Fring, Vonage), not to mention text messaging.

With everything keeping us in "touch" cheapened the value of communication?

I miss the days when I would receive a letter, a physical letter, or even a physical card with someone's hand written thoughts.  Now, I receive email greeting cards which to be honest, I hit archive on the gmail button.  100% of email cards I've received throughout the years has never had any inkling of personal thoughts.  Its sort of like a "mandatory email card" that a person created because they received a reminder that it was someone's birthday.

To be honest people say that I am really hard to shop for.  That is true, but honestly, that isn't what I want for my birthday or Christmas, or any holiday, or any day.  Just think of me, and prove that were thinking of me, I would rather have something that came from the heart and not from the wallet.

I deviate from communication.  People ask why I don't have Facebook.  Really? You'll only communicate with people if you can read their thoughts and maybe click a "like" button occasionally?  If that's the only way you'll communicate with me, I'd rather not have your "communication" because you're not really communicating, you are receiving information.


Communication - "an interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs"


Perhaps, I am "old-school", I send Thank you cards, Birthday cards, Christmas cards, all with personal thoughts I share with the intended receiver.


Maybe I just don't understand it.  Is the "like" button sufficient for a person to fully understand your experiences?  I don't think so, I stopped posting pictures online because pictures without a story perpetuates a person's thoughts about a subject, there is no insight given, just confirmation of the receiver's thoughts.


Then again I am blogging, my rant and raving about communication a 1 way medium. Then perhaps you will reply with your thoughts.


It's sort of like text messaging, you can text, "hey b***h" and it can be a good thing or a bad thing, not easily decipherable, perhaps I'll receive more phone calls or messages.

Mahalo for reading. Until next time.