Sunday, August 22, 2004
The Great Disconnect

Something funny happened today.Jean Grey and I,who were sitting side-by-side started chatting using our emails instead of talking.It started with an email about Dubai wanting to build a city suspended in mid-air and as she was listening to music using headphones.I just proceeded to reply via email instead of talk to her.It went on for several emails before she commented that how come we were communicating via email instead of talking.Another example came while I was having dinner with my friend.She talked about how she sent a group email to a group of colleagues to attend a meeting and one of them didn't come.Ironically,the one who didn't go was sitting just diagonally next to her.She lamented how come her colleague or she didn't talk to each other to clarify attendance.

Now,how often have we now elected to SMS or email someone instead of meeting up or even calling someone.Other internet messaging services like MSN,Yahoo and ICQ have also replaced the mode of communications in which people interact.It seems that now we talk more through our keyboards than our voices.Our hands are doing our talking instead of our mouths.Not including disabled friends we have,I find this strange,if inevitable.It's not a new subject either.That technology has bridged geographical distance but increased personal distance.And it's extremely sad in a way.

Now I understand the great advantage that the internet and mobile texting brings.It's cost-efficient.It's cheap.No disputes.can you imagine spending hundreds on long-distance phonecalls every month.Terrible strain indeed.Texting and typing is so much easier.And it's convenient.Typing can be fast.A lot of people express themselves better writing.I can't dispute i may be one of those.Inarticulation can be a very embarrassing thing if one cannot speak what one feels in words.And a lot people,when they talk,sometimes find themselves at a loss for words.Typing also affords us the safety net of a non-emotive form of expression.We won't feel embarrassed saying we like/care for someone or flirting.There's courage that can be mustered here that we may be afraid to speak out in voice/person.Anomity is also guaranteed in a way.Who really knows who I am here blogging despite my many words?I may betray my personality and my feelings here but you'd never know who I am anyway.I understand teh security implications of revealing too much information about oneself.It's for protection so stay anonymous.Yet,isn't this last thing also a curse?

While reading the comments here posted on my site,I just suddenly thought about how I know and do not know the people who look and comment on my blogs.I know the connections but don't know the person.Let me confess here:I was trying to think how I was connected to Nirmalya (through whom)...and I still haven't figured it out yet.Hahah.Nirmalya,if you are reading,enlighten me.Actually there isn't a problem with this,not at all.But is this increasingly the state of things of how people will be connected to each other?That even when we are right beside each other,these electronic means still becomes our preferred mode of communications?That when all our friends in this tiny island communicated mostly via MSN,ICQ and SMS.When that day comes,it'd be really sad,wouldn't it?Maybe it's just old sentimental me speaking because the day is probably already here.

What I do realise is that this is something that is irreversible.This trend will only continue.The only contention is how much more ingrained will it become.Or if there is a chance of regressing.I doubt it.So many people have brought this up before.It's not the first time I thought about this.It's jsut that it is the first time I blogged it.It's ironic how I rail against this medium yet is now,using it to air my thoughts.Would I care to reveal my name?I thought about it and then held back.There is the fear that certain unwelcome people might read this(it's only Banshee and Rogue that I am thinking about).Hahah.Reality bites.The rants amount to nothing.