I’ve had a lot of time to think about technology and places where it should and shouldn’t be used. Banking, technical briefs, and even politics are all places technology is acceptable. However, in matters of the heart and soul, technology has no place.
Text messaging was the subject of an article I wrote a few months back. Texting has become such a big part of our daily lives we sometimes forget how impersonal it is. We try and add smiley faces and emoticons to make it cuter and express emotion. I notice that when I text certain friends my use of emoticons changes to suit them. Texting makes communicating so convenient I find even my friends who despise communicating this way are shifting.
E-mail is another easy method of communicating. It’s fairly simple to sit behind a computer and push a few keys then hit send. Voila, the e-mail is as good as delivered. Next time the recipient receives their mail, either on their phone or computer, they have your letter.
In the realm of technology nothing stands out as more personal than a video or conference call. No more black and white text and no more funny faces to show emotion. Live video shows the person your emotion and lets them communicate eye-to-eye. It takes the guess work out of what the other person is truly thinking.
As we’re bombarded with technology it becomes easier to pass off communication for quicker and easier methods. Lots of energy goes into pulling out stationary and a nice pen to write a letter from the heart. Hours can be spent composing just the right message only realize something was misspelled or we made a grammatical error. With technology we don’t have to worry about such things.
Nothing is easier than backspacing or cutting and pasting while modifying a document. I find that as I write this week’s article I’m constantly modifying my writing to make me sound more influential and to make the article flow. With pen and ink writers can’t easily make changes once the ink is on the paper.
My point to all of this is we’ve lost a significant amount of intimacy and personal connection with technology. The old days of handwriting a love letter or crafting a personalized thank you have pretty much vanished. It’s simply easier to type in a few notes and edit them or send a quick text message professing your feelings.
Tonight I sat down to write a personal letter to a friend. What was once a free-flowing and easy to do task is now much harder. The only paper I could find in the house was that from a three ring binder. No longer do I maintain nice writing pens; I only have disposable. Not only was finding implements difficult, but I noticed my handwriting has become atrocious.
Nonetheless, I managed to profess my feelings on a stack of binder paper. After rereading my notes and thinking about it, I decided there was definitely more emotion in the letter than there would have been in a typewritten version. The reader not only gets to see my changes, but they receive the true flow of ideas.
Earlier I mentioned that technology has its place. I believe in matters of the heart when we’re trying to convey emotion, handwriting and face-to-face communication should be a first step. Some of you may remember when stationers were in every community and writing was an art form. For those who are too young to remember, try picking up a pen and paper once in a while. If written well, your sentiments should be well received.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)