Are FB, Twitter, IM's ,Voice Mail, Texting, Email Et Al Ruining Our Lives ?

He Who Lives In A Glass House .....

Let me begin by saying that any criticism I aim at anyone in this article should not be taken personally. I am fully aware that I myself am guilty of whatever it is I am complaining or blaming others for. That's what makes this phenomenon all the more interesting to me.

How This Got Started or I'm Not Obnoxious, Really I'm Not

Generally speaking I don't think that I take advantage of my friends. Well not any more than the next person does. OK, so maybe some of my friends may disagree with that but they are not here to argue it so suspend your possible disbelief and trust me on that. Anyway, I am just saying that I try not to bombard people with hundreds of email, texts, voice mails, instant messages, Face Book, Twitter, Digg, Friend Feed etc, communications everyday. Although I am very active for sure.

Was It Something I Said ?

A few weeks ago however I did have what I considered to be a pretty important communication to give to a number of my friends so I decided to send out an email of the bulk kind. I know, I know, but I really hardly ever do that. But for time sake I did this one time. I sent out an email to only about forty of my friends. This particular email actually required an answer of some kind.
Zero, Zilch, Nada, Nothing !! Yeah, Yeah, that's funny. I don't really have any actual friends, maybe they are trying to tell me something, blah, blah. Come on I'm trying to make a serious point here. No one answered my email. This got me to thinking about this topic.

Psst, Did You Get My Email ?

A few days later I was sitting on the couch doing some work on the computer and saw that I had gotten an email. I opened up my in box and there was an email from my wife. Now my wife and I have some business's that we do together so it's not so unusual for her to email me or CC me on something she has sent out. However this particular email read something like, "do you want to go see a movie tonight." OK, so even that wouldn't have been so strange except for the fact that she was sitting not six feet from me working on her computer.
Now this is getting to be a bit much. Oh yeah, and am I the only dad who's gotten a text from two of his kids wishing him a happy birthday, I think not !


You Are A Rock Start or How To Extend Your 15 Minutes Of Fame ?

It was Andy Warhol who said "each person in his life gets fifteen minutes of fame." Or something close to that anyway. This may have been true enough in his day but today I think there is a different story. The social media tools have escalated so far and so fast that I think they are no longer a means of just staying in touch with friends etc. That they were ever intended to go beyond that is hard to say although it's obvious that a large number of them have spawned for the sole purpose of doing commerce. More on that later.

They have gone beyond sending perhaps critical information to someone. Like a text to a friend, "hey I'm stuck in traffic, be there soon." Or " hey honey, don't forget the butter." Now these lines of communication are jammed with such vital pieces of information like , "wondering", "eating sushi", "ZZZZZ, and oh yeah, "taking a dump." Now that is some very critical information for sure. Now, before you get all pissed off at me here, remember what I wrote at the beginning, I'm guilty too. Never posted anything about my bowel movements that I can recall though.

Then there are the socially important group groups and causes we have forming on Face Book, Become a fan of Sleeping, Laughing, Crying, Lint or Become a fan of Me. How embarrassing is that ? Maybe these mediums are a way for all of us to steal some part of celebrity. To life out and perhaps extend what Andy Warhol was commenting on. To see our name, words pictures and videos on the big screen. OK, maybe not the big screen but doesn't Apple have like a thirty inch monitor. Big enough, I'll take it!

Money, Money, Money !

Perhaps, as I mentioned earlier, a large part of the problem I think is commerce, the almighty dollar. It seems like if there is something in this world that can be used to create money it will not only be used for that purpose but that purpose will consume and overrun that activity. I am not a communist or a socialist. I like money just as much as the next guy, maybe even more.
I am guilty too. If these mediums were devoid of people trying to make money or push causes then maybe there would be way less people on them and the ones that were would be hanging on to each others every important post . "Lost my key's!"

With the glut of so much communication from so many mediums all communications are equal in value to all other communications.

Does Anybody Still Wear A Beeper ?

I remember when pagers first hit the scene. I told myself I'd never wear one of those things. To be "on call" 24/7. Like Pavlov's dog responding to the buzz and running to a phone like my life depended on it. Well of course I got one. Then came the six hundred pound cell phone with a battery life of about 3 minutes. Couldn't get more than a few hundred feet from the car or charging device. Of course don't get me started on computers. Bought my first one in 1994. I paid $3,400.00 for the latest and the fastest too. It was like sixty six MHz. Wow ! Lucky thing it too weighed about six hundred pounds cause six months after I bought it it was obsolete but it made a great paper weight.

The point is obvious that technology is here and is here to stay and it's only going to get bigger and faster. I get it. I mean after all I am using the internet to communicate this to you. I will use Face Book, Twitter etc. to get this out for sure. It is a means of reaching lots of people in a hurry. My point is we need to make sure that we are using these tools to actually reach people and make sure we too are truly reached through them as well.

It's All Good

In the end I think these mediums are like the atomic energy. OK, that was a serious turn. In our world anything can be misused. Anything can be overdone. Just look at obesity in our country (That's a whole blog in and of itself). We as a people over do. We as a society over consume. We want more and more and we want it faster and faster. I don't want to give away my age here but I remember when I grew up there were two maybe three choices when it came to buying sneakers. You know "gym shoes." There were Converse and PR Flyers. So, I am way older than you. Now not only are there hundreds of sneaker of all size and sports to chose from but there are tons of stores that specialize in those shoes.

So yes, I think these ways of getting us into better and faster communication are good but only if we differentiate and use them in moderation. Use them as tools to actually get into better communication with the people and the world around us.

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Thanks for reading!

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