Nathaniel

Shockey

Read Nathaniel's bio and previous columns here

February 18, 2008

Technology . . . And How We Use It

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll sound like when I tell my grandkids, “You know what, I was in sixth grade when they invented e-mail. Back then, we used a communication program called ‘AIM.’ Oh, and by the way, sixth graders were about 11 years old in my day, not 15, like they are today. We were cleverer back then.”

“But Grandpa,” they’ll say, “you mean that you were alive before they invented computers? Did you have a pet dinosaur?”

I was in middle school when my teacher showed us, on video, an example of two people “instantly messenging” each other. My classmates and I were pretty floored. But personally, I was not as shocked as I was wondering, with confusion, “Why do we need this?”

The same thing happened to me when I saw a commercial for text messaging a few years ago, back when it was a novelty. There was some guy and he had hurt his wife/girlfriend’s feelings. She was looking upset at a business meeting when he shows up at the door, unannounced, holding a sign saying, “I’m sorry.” Then he grabs another one that says something like, “I was stupid,” followed by, “I love you.” Then they cut to her reading these messages on her phone, with a big smile on her face, and I’m thinking to myself, “Are relationships really that easy?” But even more than that, I remember saying, out loud, “Give me one other useful application of this ‘text messaging.’”

And this is one reason I know that I’m a conservative, because I’ll always question the usefulness of anything new, not because I’m a skeptic and a thinker, but because I’m lazy and would prefer things to get no more complicated than they already are.

Before instant messaging (and Myspace, Facebook and any other communication tool they use on the Internet), computers were really only used in the public sphere for typing. Word processors, they were called, and we used them to type documents with considerably less skill than was required to use typewriters. Now we can talk to each other without having to immediately form sentences using our mouths. We can take a few extra seconds and say something especially witty, and depending on one’s skill level, considerably lengthy texts can be written within seconds, heightening the impression of one’s quick wits.

When I started using instant messenger, I realized I was much better at talking to people online than I was in person. I’ve always been better at communicating when I’m looking at the words I’m thinking than when I have to immediately create audible sound. Even now, when I get stuck in conversation, my wife says, “Use your words,” and I’m thinking to myself, “Which ones? Is there a manual for this sort of thing?” But online, I was talking to six or seven people at once, dazzling them all with my quick, impersonal wit.

But what are the effects of this age of inaudible, written communication? For one, there are probably a lot more writers out there, although I’d hesitate to say there are better writers, because I think the best writers are equally skilled speakers. Which brings me to a second effect –speakers, like me.

I don’t think people are very good at communicating with one another. Few of us are able to realize our honest thoughts and communicate them when appropriate. Most of us say things that we know are impersonal, light, possibly funny and definitely safe, because we’ve said them all a thousand times before. In California, we say things like, “no worries,” every other sentence. The other half, we’re either saying “whatever,” or “I drank so much the other night.” I’d like to think there’s a little more to us.

Technology is not the problem. The problem is the way people use it. There is always a period during which we learn the various uses of new technology, its advantages and its potential pitfalls. You might call it a grace period.

One of my English Literature professors was once talking to our class about the great advances we’ve made in technology over the years. But then he said, “And here we are, alone, talking to each other across the hallway on our computers,” which I’ve done.

In the age of written communication, we have to be careful that we don’t lose that which makes us the most human, and that which makes humanity so special. As comfortable as it may seem now, it won’t compare to the pain we’ll feel when we find ourselves, generations from now, talking to our grandkids about the wonderful relationships we never really had.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

Click here to talk to our writers and editors about this column and others in our discussion forum.

To e-mail feedback about this column, click here. If you enjoy this writer's work, please contact your local newspapers editors and ask them to carry it.

This is Column # NS097. Request permission to publish here.