A lament about the dying art of conversation:
Back in the good old days, conversations were had in person. Complete with nuance of tone, facial expression, gestures and so on. The chances of miscommunication were slim. If your conversation's recipient frowned, you knew you'd overstepped and could adjust accordingly. Or not. But at least you knew where you were.
Then came phone conversations. I remember when my parents got a phone at home. I was about 8. Prior to that, if I wanted to go to my friend's house (spare me from the stupid expression play date) an arrangement had to be made the day before. Forward planning in other words. Now, things could be arranged at short notice. Fantastic.
(I realise I sound like I am about 80 talking about our first phone. It's not like they were just invented, but just that my parents thought we should have one. Color television came soon after to our house and that was a Brave New World)
So, for a few decades, we're doing well with our phone. Became expert with it in fact. And then came cell phones. We got cool ones in Europe way before you buggers and even now, if you want a cool phone, don't look for it in America. Ouch. Just telling it like it is peeps.
The main (dis)advantage of this new technology in my not-very-humble opinion is that it allows people to be late. Few of us would leave a friend/date hanging out by themselves at a street corner or bar, but EVERYONE seems comfortable calling at the last minute to announce that the time of arrival has shifted. So, now we're rude with our phones. But we're still talking.
Somewhere in this, the art of conversation was replaced with email. If you just couldn't be bothered to chat with that friend that you kinda like, but tired of easily, you could just shoot them an email. Quick style. No time commitment required.
But then, and we all remember how exciting THIS was, instant message hit the streets and now there was barely a reason to talk at all.
And if that wasn't fast enough, now there's text messaging. Your entire life condensed to 160 characters at a time.
The point of this ramble? Whatever happened to the art of conversation?? Can anyone still spell Shakespeare?
And what has been the impact on intimacy?
I hooked up with someone a couple months back. Nice man. Cute. Definitely worth doing again, but his preferred method of communication is text. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a big text fan. It amuses me to no end to have daft text message conversations and I have saved tons of curse words so that I can faux fight with friends at breathtaking speeds. I am also a big fan of sex talk via text, but I wouldn't try and conduct an entire relationship using this mode of communication. I am fine with "meet you in 30" or "we still on for tonight?" for example, but "how was your vacation?"??? WTF? It was two weeks long and in another country. How am I condensing that into 160 characters?
I was going to call him and explain that I don't have the energy to try to maintain a friendship via text, but then I realised that I just couldn't be bothered. The moment had passed.
Next.
Today's Daily Knob-- Check out the lead singer of The Special AKA, Stan Campbell, singing "Free Nelson Mandela". He's about the most beautiful man I've seen all year.
Here are some I made earlier:
3 Basic Needs Not enough comments. Crying here. Boo Hoo!
Piercings - love or loathe?
Deviant Sexual Practises
When good email goes bad
Age again, with more feeling
How young is too young, how old is too old?