There’s much to look forward to with the advent of new forms of communication. There are cellphones and emails, options to chat online and drop comments on the social media. As a matter of fact, it’s possible to reach just about anyone, anywhere, anytime. In a scenario like that, you’d think the world, with all its connectivity, has become a happy place of pleasant communication.
Well, not really.
Citing the oft-dreaded explanation of “being busy”, many forms of communication are restricted to terse and cold replies. Single “yes” or “no” responses are valid, of course, and they work splendidly for some people. Not so for many others. Unintentionally or perhaps intentionally, some typed responses and queries, are, to me at least, peculiar. It’s hardly gratifying to open your email and find an odd message with a demand to send a link to something else online. Or a demand pretending to be a query asking for so and so’s telephone number. Sending texts through the extraordinarily smart smartphones have also their fair share of troubles. Even with the smileys, and besides, smileys can’t be sent to everyone. Words have a lot of power, and poorly placed, make the sender seem…well, a little brash, a little arrogant, a little unconcerned for the recipient’s feelings. Or maybe, a combination of all of these. Telephone calls are restricted to mere seconds because of hyperactivity and the charged atmosphere of wherever the speakers are.
I mean, where’s the time to ask about someone’s welfare, after all? Who really has time for a casual phone call or a concerned message? There are so many ways to keep in touch, and alas, there’s a great gap of disconnect all around. There are moments of “forgetting” that get all too frequent. Forgetting to respond, forgetting a birthday, forgetting one exists.
Sad state of affairs.
It was a relief, then, when a certain phone call was made to an acquaintance a while ago. This person, despite not being a friend, took the time to ask, to show an interest, to chatter away like a stream of sunshine. And no, it wasn’t a waste of time. Nearly everybody is busy these days, and no one person’s time is more important than anybody else’s.
With friends, it is a relief to unwind, to take time out to express interest in somebody else’s doings, and most of all, to keep in touch. There’s something magical about using communication systems to foster a friendship, to further an acquaintance, or to make work agreeable. Courtesy is a much desired thing. Brief messages could be courteous. Instead, many are curt, short, and stiff. And I am not referring to business communications. Friendly and personal touches to the new forms of keeping in touch are sorely lacking. Family connections are restricted to birthday calls, sometimes not even that.
Would it hurt terribly to say hello occasionally, and ask how a relative or friend is doing?