Intentional Communication
This Wednesday is it. My cell phone will be turned over to the Clifton family. Over the last year they have generously allowed me to share minutes with them for a nominal fee of $20 dollars a month. Now the phone, charger, and all of the convenience that comes with it will be surrendered into Marcus’s large Scandinavian hands. I wont need the phone while on the island. And to be quite honest, I’ve never really liked having a cell phone (if you have spoken to me for longer than say 5 minutes than you already know where I stand on cell phone communication and the companies that run them).
There are a whole slew of theories I have been thinking on over the years about cell phones and how they have positively and negatively affected our society and the way we communicate. Overall I believe the cell phone has caused uneasiness in us all about how much communication is enough. Should we be obligated to talk to people all the time simply because we have the means to do it? Have cell phones actually made us lazier and less committal in our relationships because of the apparent ease with which the phone affords us? For those of you reading this who can remember back to the not so distant past you may recall a time when you had to either make a meeting and stick to it or leave the other person hanging. You couldn’t simply call the person on their cell phone and back out of it (don’t get me wrong, I'm the first to admit that I am guilty of this).
I also think of the content of our conversations. Because of the availability of communication have we in effect become less inclined to put much thought into what we are actually calling the person to talk about? How many phone numbers do we actually have to remember anymore, the phone does it for us. So you don’t even have the time to think about what you want say because the time you would have spent looking up or remembering the persons phone number and then dialing it in one number at a time is completely lost with your computerized “phone book”.
I have chosen not to focus on or even mention the positives because for me they are far outweighed by the negatives. In the next few months I will be delving into the fine art of intentional communication. Hand writing letters (yes, it still exists) and meeting face to face. If a phone must be used a landline will suffice. Please stay with me as I continue on in this process of weeding out the lax communication means of an afflicted society and how it directly affects the way we relate and are related to.
And to keep with the theme of using this blog as not only a means of sharing my own story but also the stories of others I’ll leave you with this portrait of Michael Ashley in his hotel room just a few hours before he was wed to his beautiful wife Jamie.
There are a whole slew of theories I have been thinking on over the years about cell phones and how they have positively and negatively affected our society and the way we communicate. Overall I believe the cell phone has caused uneasiness in us all about how much communication is enough. Should we be obligated to talk to people all the time simply because we have the means to do it? Have cell phones actually made us lazier and less committal in our relationships because of the apparent ease with which the phone affords us? For those of you reading this who can remember back to the not so distant past you may recall a time when you had to either make a meeting and stick to it or leave the other person hanging. You couldn’t simply call the person on their cell phone and back out of it (don’t get me wrong, I'm the first to admit that I am guilty of this).
I also think of the content of our conversations. Because of the availability of communication have we in effect become less inclined to put much thought into what we are actually calling the person to talk about? How many phone numbers do we actually have to remember anymore, the phone does it for us. So you don’t even have the time to think about what you want say because the time you would have spent looking up or remembering the persons phone number and then dialing it in one number at a time is completely lost with your computerized “phone book”.
I have chosen not to focus on or even mention the positives because for me they are far outweighed by the negatives. In the next few months I will be delving into the fine art of intentional communication. Hand writing letters (yes, it still exists) and meeting face to face. If a phone must be used a landline will suffice. Please stay with me as I continue on in this process of weeding out the lax communication means of an afflicted society and how it directly affects the way we relate and are related to.
And to keep with the theme of using this blog as not only a means of sharing my own story but also the stories of others I’ll leave you with this portrait of Michael Ashley in his hotel room just a few hours before he was wed to his beautiful wife Jamie.
posted by Corey at 11:13 PM
5 Comments:
Leigh and I were walking on the drive . leigh nearly got smoked by this stupid guy on his cell phone. in other words, I too... am not a fan of the mobile phone technology
So is that the same cell phone you had last year when I saw you? The one that was all duct taped, and was permanently flipped open? They don't make 'em like they used to.
A few things that have annoyed me about the cell phone industry are the contracts and the lack of choice of phones. I'm about to switch to a prepaid plan, which is going to cost me about $15/month on average. Much cheaper than the monthly plan I was on, and no contract to sign!
Speaking of communication, that is a topic that comes up often in my line of business (software development), since good communication is crucial to the success of a software project. It has become more and more obvious that face-to-face is the most effective form of communication, in spite of the technological advances in that area. It kind of warms my heart to know that. As much of a fan I am of technology, I don't ever want it to dehumanize us.
Yah, it's annoying how those things become a part of your hand before you even realise it.
And dang! Your B&W portraits are always fantastic, but I mean the contrast, composition, subject... give the rest of us a chance, mate!!!
(Planning on purchasing a 350D or a D50 soon-ish). yahoo!
wow! you seem to be on a really interesting journey right now.
i like hearing about it.
i dial the number by hand every time, and i have numbers memorized. also, it is a great bother to just call someone, so i have to really think about whether its worth it or not. oh and by the way, thanks for that comment, it means alot to get that kind of feedback on my writing and in my story, my home is just a little further away from the abbey than it is now. not quite just across the street. :-)
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