"The Art of Isolation Via E-Mails"

For years I looked forward to the postman delivering my mail. I would wait at the door around the time he was expected and anticipate what may be coming that day. Later I got a post office box so I could get the mail at any time of the day. But then I learned the post office didn't put mail in the boxes but once a day - and that was a disappointment.

I liked the excitement of receiving mail, the not knowing of what to expect. And when I got personal letters I liked the look of the stationary and the different aspects of handwriting. There was an art to letter writing that I never mastered but I know many who did and their letters were treasures.

Now we have entered into the age of e-mail. We get brief notes dashed off to convey information. They arrive at all hours of the day or night and generally announce themselves with the melodious tones of "You've Got Mail" We read them and discard them, or rarely "save" them. They are not written as an art form but are rather sent just to convey information.

We can hide behind e-mails just as we hide behind answer machines and call waiting. If we don't want to talk we don't have to. Just let the machine get it and convey to us who it was and when. Then if we want to answer we can or we can deny the machine ever gave us the information.

The problem with e-mails is they are sterile, even with all the initials and smiley faces. With a phone call you can hear the tone and timbre of a person's voice. You can get inflection, emotional additives, and even the unheard intention of silences. You can't get that from a short e-mail message.

I have a friend who communicates totally with his children by e-mail. I don't know if he is too cheap to call or if he just prefers the convenience of it. When I ask the last time he heard from his daughter he refers to an e-mail he got. That is not hearing from someone. That is getting a message.

In some ways we are getting more and more isolated in our lives. We are hiding behind machines and letting them sort out who we talk with and when. We no longer have to learn the tactful way of avoidance because our machines do it for us.

Don't you wonder if people in the future will even know how to write a personal letter? Will all correspondence be reduced to the brief, abbreviated text form of communicating? Will we write in the message jargon rather than use creative English? And will isolation become a way of life rather than a rare choice?
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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