Are conversations becoming extinct?
Relax your furrowed, unbelieving brow for a second, I ask this simply because over the past several weeks I've had the unfortunate experience of being blatantly and rudely inter...Relational etiquette has declined due in part to the mental splicing technology affords.
Where we more often sat and slowly flipped through pages of a book building thought upon thought we are now more accustomed to "clicking" through pages, cutting our thought process off then on again.
That visual inter...Remember that popular catch phrase "instant gratification" that came about with the new millennium, spawned from drive through's and microwaves? Maybe McDonald's is to blame for everything wrong with the world after all!
What better source to attribute the "I want your attention now" attitude foundational of the offender?
That habit of speaking to the multitask-er behind the window might have leaked over into our relationships "yeah, I'll have a number one regardless of who you're talking to already because I'm more important"
The rise of the inter..Hold on I'm getting a call...OK sorry...where was I? oh, right..rupption could also be attributed to call waiting or the textual interruption. Our addiction to not missing a call! has hurt our need to cultivate the conversation we already had going.
& with the rise of txt mgs we have grown in r abilities to summarize & xpect concise responses in return.
The face to face conversation is becoming a lost art. Not the actual act of conversing face to face, the art of conversing face to face. The eye contact, the full attention, the look of confidence as you convey your point, and most importantly the respect for both the listener and the speaker-it's all taking a back seat as we become increasingly dependent on screen to screen conversations.
It is a most degrading feeling to be inter...Respect for someone else's conversation doesn't need a makeover or an overhaul to become trendy it should be that classic button down shirt that no matter what the conversational trend will always be in style.
2 comments:
you mentioned respect for other's conversation being as trendy as a button down shirt but please don't forget a comfy pair of jeans!
i think sometimes we opt for screen to screen contact because while we are subtracting the physical contact, we're also subtracting the awkwardness that sometimes accompanies those face to face encounters. i think sometimes we feel bolder when we don't have the other person's expression weighing on us. we don't have to worry how the other person will react because we can't see them. however, at the same time, we are missing that very thing. what if we share something very personal; something that exposes our core, leaving us feeling vulnerable and naked? getting back a two word text doesn't mean nearly the same thing as sharing the personal thing in person and looking over to see compassion or understanding reflected in the other person's eyes, along with a caring touch.
while text and e-mail are both great ways of staying in touch and interacting, nothing is able to replace the experience of sitting at starbuck's with a friend, sipping a freshly brewed beverage and catching up on the day's events. the ability to laugh at something completely stupid but funny just because you're with that person. nope, that's something that can't be duplicated and is part of what life's about (not starbuck's but having those relationships :-)
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