Shining Thru

It’s amazing the advances that have been made in communication in the past 100 years, and yet it seems like people are communicating less and less, which is hard to believe with emails, twitter, facebook, blackberries and everything else that people have become addicted to in the past several years.  With all of the comments and remarks that are made back and forth between people these days, I have to wonder how much actually gets said.

Some people have emotional breakdowns over what is posted on facebook, or someone’s blog, or God forbid, there is something wrong with their internet and they are cut off.    It’s funny when the power goes out and you see people look at each other in wonder, asking what are we suppose to do, as if there are not activities outside the world of technology.  It gets even funnier when someone does come up with something and they think, I’ll just message someone on the computer or email them or some other form of communication that doesn’t work, instead of simply calling them or going over to see them.

Actually going some place just to visit with people seems to have almost completely disappeared.  I have to wonder why we allow ourselves to rely on technology the way we do.  What is so important about checking our email as soon as it comes to the inbox, or feeling lost when we have no signal on our cell phone and can’t receive the text messages?

I’m not denying that communication and technology are important, I use them all of the time, in fact, I am one of those people that feels lost without access to the internet, even though I don’t use it every day, there is some type of comfort that comes with knowing that it is there if I want to be able to use it.  We expect communication to be instant these days, I can’t remember the last time I actually sat down and wrote a letter, even birthday cards are becoming fewer and fewer, when you can save the postage and simply send an ecard or message them on facebook or send a text.

So is it better to have instant communication or more heartfelt conversation?

It’s so strange when you meet new people and you have no idea how to read them, you have no idea what could possibly be going through their mind…you can only guess and go off of previous experience with body language and other people that you know and hope that’s enough not to miscommunicate with someone.  You never know what people will take the wrong way.  The smallest thing could turn huge in a hurry if you are unaware that some people have meanings for things that you couldn’t even possibly imagine.  The smallest gesture with your hand or a look out of the corner of your eye could be construed as flirting by one person or a challenge to fight by the next. 

How are we suppose to be able to read people when half of us don’t know what goes on in our own minds?  It’s hard enough to try and understand a friend when they are in an odd mood, much less someone you just met and have no idea what kind of moods they are even capable of……