Some people will say that things are much worse now that we have so many forms of communication at our finger tips. I'm not so sure of that. Remember the good old days when you had to pick up a pen and write out a letter to someone that you couldn't call because long distance telephone fees were so high? (ok, I admit that I'm showing my age, but it wasn't all that long ago!). How many letters did you write? I remember being away at school and at first I wrote to all my friends back home, to the people that had also moved away, and to my family. And I remember receiving letters from people. A few still are memorable, including those from my sister who used to write pages and pages and I soaked up every word! But then, people got busy, less letters were exchanged. But soon email saved the day and we fired off messages all the time. Then chat came along, wow, that was even better, like being on the phone with fifteen people at once. Now Facebook, Twitter and other social media allow us to "talk" to many people at once. Could it be easier?
Funny, though, how we fall into the same habits! We now communicate with so many people that it almost seems like a chore to open one of these Internet tools to see what people are doing. Or we risk becoming addicted, so we limit the time we spend checking out what is going on. And don't forget that almost all of the communication is one-way. Have you noticed how few times people comment on something you've posted on Facebook, or how few replies you get to your Tweets, or even how Linked In discussions rarely go beyond the first comment posted by the discussion's owner?
So, what are the positives that we can extract from these musings? First of all, I think it's worth spending a few moments to contemplate how much time we spend on true, meaningful communication that gives as good as it gets (in other words, all participants contribute and receive). How much do we whine vs help other people laugh? How much do we help vs asking for help? What is the point of communicating a piece of information: is it sharing or showing off? Then I think we should all evaluate whether the forms of communication that we are using are effective for what we wish to communicate. And finally, we should dedicate a certain amount of time to communicating, in whatever media we have chosen. Make it a habit, but one that brings you something worthwhile.
Most importantly, don't forget that behind all of this communicating are human beings who need contact in order to thrive...so contact and be contactable (is that a word?).
