The art of communication is changing more than ever as technology continues to bring new methods to communicate. It wasn’t long ago that a two-way conversation could only be held in person, over a phone call, or via postal mail. Today there is email, SMS (texting), MMS (video/picture messages), Facebook, Twitter, FaceTime, Skype, IM, and the list goes on. While these technologies have made a lot of things easier, one thing that’s beginning to be lost is face to face conversations.
I know that FaceTime and Skype allow you talk face to face, catching every voice inflection and facial cue, but most people are not using them because they are not really convenient. While smart phones are allowing video chat to happen more easily than ever, it is still easier to send an email from them and even more easy to send a text message. It has become typical to see a group of teenagers sitting around texting other people. They might be hanging out together, but they barely say a word to each other. I’m sure most of them would be satisfied with a phone that doesn’t even make calls as long as they have unlimited texts.
While email and SMS have made communicating a lot easier and more convenient, I worry that the rising generations are starting to miss out on what comes from face to face conversations. At the extreme end, some students today don’t understand facial cues in conversations and tend to be somewhat harsh at times because they’ve not learned the power that words can have. When you only communicate through text messages instead of having physical conversations, you don’t learn how to read reactions because you never see or hear them.
I am not against technology by any stretch of the imagination. My job is based on technology. I just hope that future generations don’t lose touch with humanity as new technologies are developed. Video chat in it’s different forms is a turn for the better and I can’t wait to see what else is coming. As for now, I think it is important to teach our kids how to enjoy talking to people face to face.