Previously I posted a topic here about “grieving the loss on conversation” which I’ll link this post to, but there is another social loss happening with technology today…
The social connections we loose through email. the lack of dialogue happening today because we can use email.
I can have a conversation with someone and we solve a problem- and at the end the other person says- email me. Then I’m thinking why? Didn’t we just figure this out? I’m not a secretary. Asking someone to email a log of a conversation is annoying because it drives a person to sit down at a screen. There is something so validating about having a conversation with someone and they say- let me write that down- or says- call me if I forget to follow up. It’s the very connection we need to not feel isolated.
Honestly, this may seem off my own topic, but maybe that’s what drives people to check social media all the time? They are looking for a humane connection that was lost in these everyday interactions, lost
to the phrase “email me”.
You see I’m a conversationalist by nature so email can be so frustrating!! You have to say everything you want to say because it’s the only way to get the recipient’s attention- electronically… but one has to say it concise enough or half of it may get lost.
I’m a person who likes to hear other people’s thoughts along the way- to hear how they feel- if they understand or are disinterested- or maybe the time in their voice is shaken or joyful. Sometimes all people need is person to notice how a person feels to be connected.
And of course that stinging feeling that happens when people don’t have enough time or concern to talk at all- the “email me” phrase before someone walks away to only start staring at their phone mid thought to answer another email.
We are losing many personal problem solving skills when we say “email” me. We never hear the concern or joy in someone’s voice- the social feedback isn’t there. In my childhood, I remember grownups taught myself/peers to talk out a problem. For people born in the 70’s- don’t you remember feeling better after talking out a problem or puzzle to life? Today we have to schedule a conference to talk!!
Well, the skills some of us learned in our childhood are becoming obsolete- because you can’t talk out anything in an email…,
The very answer to the isolation and depression people experience today may lie in walking up to someone and just conversing.