Dear Friend,
Today I woke up early and decided to stay in bed and read a book. Last night I finished a book titled Shirley by Charlotte Bronte but was still in the mood to read, so I read the first five chapters of a Newbery Honor book titled Princess Academy before going to sleep. When I woke up the next day, I figured I would continue reading the book since the whole night long I was wondering what would happen in the story. I picked it up and read, I kept reading until the 300 page book was finished. It is a middle school level book, so it was an easier read. Regardless, it was still very interesting and had some good points to think about.
It was such a good 'old-fashioned' morning to just be in bed and read. I wasn't fiddling with my computer, I wasn't setting alarms on my phone, and I wasn't listening to music. I was just reading. Unfortunately, it seems harder and harder to get away from all the technology that is around us. I mean, I am writing this on a computer and posting this letter to anyone that wants to read it, believe me, I am just as engulfed in technology as the next person. But sometimes I worry about what we are becoming with all this technology around us. Take, for example, the cell phone. It is no longer used to have a single conversation with someone that too far away for a face to face conversation, but now it is used to have multiple conversations with multiple people at the same time through the 'wonderful world' of texting. I wonder how deep these conversations actually are?
This afternoon, I decided to go to a coffee shop and do some work. I was sitting at a table on the second floor, away from the distraction and smoke of other people, drinking my ice lemon tea, listening to my ipod and working. Three girls came to the second floor with smoothies and sat down to hang out. I was amazed at how much 'hanging out' has changed since I was in high school only 5 years ago.
When you go to hang out with someone you should be giving one another your attention and be talking, laughing, discussing, debating etc. Instead, these three girls sat together at the same table, but instead of looking at each other and talking with one another, they each had their phones out and were intensely interacting with their phones. SERIOUSLY!!! I'm sorry, but this upsets me. The girls would sometimes show each other something on their phone, but that little piece of technology seemed to be a part of their body. I was at a party once and the same thing happened. I glanced at the people sitting on the two couches and each one of them had their phone out and were texting. I almost felt out of place because I wasn't texting.
What has this world we live in come to? What world will my children grow up in? Will the phone epidemic be this bad, or even worse that they text me good morning rather than walking into the kitchen to give me a good morning hug and a kiss.
Do you know how it feels when you are telling a story, very animatedly in my case, and half way through your story you look at the person you are talking to and they are typing on their phone, having a different conversation with someone else? I mean, if you ask a question, wait and listen to the reply. Your texting conversation can wait. Don't ask questions or try to have conversation if you don't want to listen.
I am big on conversations. I love having conversations, so this new era of phones and texting is a little frusterating. Granted, I am thankful for the technology. Without it I would not be able to talk to my family in Japan and America, I would not be able to talk to my best friends and keep up with what is going on in their lives. But, there is a difference between talking to someone face to face, over a computer or phone, and texting someone, facebook chatting and skype chatting. To be honest, how deep a conversation can you have when texting or chatting? I suppose that's why they call it chatting and not talking. Recently, a friend and I, who typically have good thought provoking conversations, were facebook chatting for the first time since I came to Indonesia. It started out as the casual how are you little chit-chatty conversations. But after a short while the questions were getting deeper and the responses were getting longer. Eventually, we got fed up with it and figured out how we could talk and have a real conversation. Having a conversation, where you hear a persons voice, is much more satisfying in my opinion than writing short questions and half-sentenced answers.
Well my friend, there is my little rant about this new era we are living in. I am thankful my texting doesn't work half the time, that way I am sure not to become a part of the crowd. Someone told me I should buy a blackberry, because that is what everyone has over here in Indonesia, telling me all the benefits of having internet on your phone etc. I said I really didn't want to be distracted by those things which I am doing fine without. Instead I have the cheapest phone possible with a black and white screen that can make calls and text. That's all. And I really don't use it enough to justify having one in my oppinion, but it is or will be, useful in times of emergency.
I will step down from this little soap box I have been standing on and say good bye.
Till next time,
Rebekah E.
I love it! You are so right. But what can be done?
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