In a world that is shrinking, bringing us closer and closer, why is it we often seem to live so far apart?
Thanks to technology in many forms it’s easier and easier to keep in touch with anyone almost anywhere.
Who needs the daily news when we’ve got FaceBook…
Status updates and photo shares give us a good idea of who is up to what. At times we get glimpses into lives we’ve never even touched. Or touched in ways unexpected. You can “friend” almost anyone…. as long as they accept. And you get friend requests from the most unexpected places too.
If facebook is not your thing, don’t worry, there are options. You can tweet, feathers optional. Still not your thing? Don’t worry, you can yelp or tumblr or ning or digg or pin. No? Don’t worry, if you’ve reddit or tagged it everyone knows anyway. And if you’re more serious than that, don’t worry, linkedin is there for you too. As is Instagram, and speaking of you, if video is your thing, don’t worry, youtube is ready, willing and able. And if all else fails, well then there’s email and WhatsApp.
If none of that appeals, if you’re missing real communication, don’t worry, we’ve got Skype, Zoom, MSTeams and Google Talk, and various other chat options, both with and without video. And luckily a phone is no longer just a phone, so even without a pc these are available to you. Easy, isn’t it? Too easy perhaps.
In most of these modern day forms of communication there is an absence of just that – communication. You know what I mean, when more than one person is involved. When someone speaks and someone else listens and then responds.
Where there is an exchange of messages, ideas and information.
A sharing that goes far deeper than a status update. “Blue day today” – the sky, your mood or are you painting the passage? With the illusion of being in touch, we are closer apart than we have ever been.
Life slips by at an often alarming rate. Priorities shift, and we, taking for granted that we know what we would like to, about whom we should, we slip by too. When did 🙁 become an acceptable response to anything that 🙂 doesn’t fit? And yet it is.
I find myself wondering if we still make time for what really matters, for the real stuff, for contact and communication, or are we too busy making lives out of what we think should be important. Technology, travel, telephones… Email and social media. Closing the distance and opening the indifference.