Do you know who am I? Do I know you? Then why is it that we pour out our hearts to each other?
Its been a long time now since we started using technology for communication in some form or the other. Post was the oldest communication method in one form or the other. But upon the advent of the new millennium, electronic medium of communication has become more profound in use. Blasting out emails in lieu of telephonic conversation( may because of its cost implications) has become a habit of a sort. So where is it taking us?
You write an email to your friends and loved ones, but the emotions are lost. Even if you try to be more poetic in your composition, you will need the abilities of someone like Garrison Keillor to express the feelings on the receivers side. A firing email from your boss is of no use unless he presents himself to mouth the words. Basically, this mode of communication has just turned in to a few clicks for editing the readily available drafts on the internet. Click, Click, Click….Send. That’s all it is to emails.
Now take a case of expressing via blog. It can be dramatic, it can be funny. It can be sarcastic, it can be punny. But it can also be a computerised software application with an ability to compose something, based on the information available on the internet itself. So, who am I typing for right now? Is it really Magali who is going to read the post. Is it really surwil who is going to comment on it. Are these real people who spring up in the form of number of page hits per day? Or am I living in the world of the Matrix?
The is uncertain. I do not feel anything when I try to communicate electronically. I remember the times when I had long conversations with my friends on the phone. There was a satisfaction of being alive with a person from a distance. But this mode of communicating seems to be made for people who are uncertain about their decisions and need to keep on using the delete button for editing. Blog, yes we can discount it, as some sort of composing is required to bring out our thoughts. But email, no its not personalised. It doesn’t reflect you fully.
We need to go back t the past. We need more personal communication to have a lively relations with others. This culture is not bad, but we need to restrict ourselves somewhere.