I still remember the first time I got a letter from my school friend whom I had left behind when we moved cities. I fondly recollect the adrenaline rush of seeing the blue envelope unable to contain myself till I read through the contents and simply wanting to reply back query-to-query asap. Slowly the joy of writing letters waned out to sending seasonal greeting cards.
Emails brought its own share of excitement and I can even now recollect the time we huddled around to register our first (hotmail) ids. The fun we had in coming up with the whackiest mail id's and then the rush to exchange ids. Then there used to be this constant urge to login and check for new mails. Letter, greeting cards had long given way to emails and e-greetings. Blue Mountain, Flash greetings, Archies and Hallmark went laughing to their banks probably because of us. Soon when chat was discovered, emails were used to just communicate the timings when to catch one another online and forward jokes.
Yes emails are still in use officially today but just think back when was the last you actually wrote a mail to someone? Why write indeed when you know your friend is probably at the beauty parlour right now or is away on vacation for the week and at this very minute is actually enjoying a boatride??
Social networking and microblogging sites have brought us closer in many ways and yet has pushed the joy of personal communication far away as possible. One tweet, one post, one status update, one message for all.
Took a vacation? Go click-click-click and update the pics for the world aglore. Attended a family gettogether, put up pics and invite comments. Cooked a new dish at home?..before you let your family taste it, you want to get it dressed and click a snap for the blog. Life seems like an open book for all out there to see. And now with microblogging 'followers' can know what is happening in one's life by the minute. Well almost.
Despite all these overwhelming means of communication, people hardly have the time for each other. Am not complaining or getting preachy here for I am very much guilty of the same. When my sister went to London for her higher studies I studiously emailed her for close to a week. Long emails telling what we did during weekends slowly gave way to video chats and then trickled down to few sms's a day and now within a month I am quite happy enough seeing her status updates of FB or a photo comment.
Does this what happens when there are way too many means to communicate? Is this signalling some kind of overbearing, ominpresence of technology? Where does one go from here?
Emails brought its own share of excitement and I can even now recollect the time we huddled around to register our first (hotmail) ids. The fun we had in coming up with the whackiest mail id's and then the rush to exchange ids. Then there used to be this constant urge to login and check for new mails. Letter, greeting cards had long given way to emails and e-greetings. Blue Mountain, Flash greetings, Archies and Hallmark went laughing to their banks probably because of us. Soon when chat was discovered, emails were used to just communicate the timings when to catch one another online and forward jokes.
Yes emails are still in use officially today but just think back when was the last you actually wrote a mail to someone? Why write indeed when you know your friend is probably at the beauty parlour right now or is away on vacation for the week and at this very minute is actually enjoying a boatride??
Social networking and microblogging sites have brought us closer in many ways and yet has pushed the joy of personal communication far away as possible. One tweet, one post, one status update, one message for all.
Took a vacation? Go click-click-click and update the pics for the world aglore. Attended a family gettogether, put up pics and invite comments. Cooked a new dish at home?..before you let your family taste it, you want to get it dressed and click a snap for the blog. Life seems like an open book for all out there to see. And now with microblogging 'followers' can know what is happening in one's life by the minute. Well almost. Despite all these overwhelming means of communication, people hardly have the time for each other. Am not complaining or getting preachy here for I am very much guilty of the same. When my sister went to London for her higher studies I studiously emailed her for close to a week. Long emails telling what we did during weekends slowly gave way to video chats and then trickled down to few sms's a day and now within a month I am quite happy enough seeing her status updates of FB or a photo comment.
Does this what happens when there are way too many means to communicate? Is this signalling some kind of overbearing, ominpresence of technology? Where does one go from here?
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