Silence Is Spoken
by chance i ran into a old friend at the mall the other day, even though our encounter was brief the conversation was one of the longest in my life. neither of us spoke a single word but we both made statements. though humans are hardwired to communicate, interact and connect with other people it seems sometimes that words, or at least the way they are used, are completely ineffective.
its amazing to me how much information can be conveyed from one person to another by a simple glance, or reading of the eyes and body language. you can make a connection or determination after giving or receiving a hug, a correctly timed smile can dissolve tension in a room, a smirk or grin can make you want to slap the shit out of someone.
with a multitude of options, technology has allowed people to stay connected but it seems society as a whole is drifting further apart. could it be diminished capacity of comprehension? maybe all of these ways to stay connected are erasing the human factor in idea exchanges and that seems to make a lot of people assholes. saying something crazy about someone they only know through tweets or facebook status updates on their little devices. people seem to be viewed as only electronic blips or objects for perpetual analysis. view any video on youtube or read comments on any news story im sure you will see what im talking about. its easy to do anything with anonymity or little to no accountability, look at politicians.
text messages, at one point were a means by which to enhance communication through convenience. people now use them as a way of courage, its easy to ask that girl out through 160 characters, it saves the feeling of embarrassment if she declines. cowards use it to break up with their partners, or tell people they are fired. its often the first choice when searching for a way to deliver anything less than good news.
its amazing to me how much information can be conveyed from one person to another by a simple glance, or reading of the eyes and body language. you can make a connection or determination after giving or receiving a hug, a correctly timed smile can dissolve tension in a room, a smirk or grin can make you want to slap the shit out of someone.
with a multitude of options, technology has allowed people to stay connected but it seems society as a whole is drifting further apart. could it be diminished capacity of comprehension? maybe all of these ways to stay connected are erasing the human factor in idea exchanges and that seems to make a lot of people assholes. saying something crazy about someone they only know through tweets or facebook status updates on their little devices. people seem to be viewed as only electronic blips or objects for perpetual analysis. view any video on youtube or read comments on any news story im sure you will see what im talking about. its easy to do anything with anonymity or little to no accountability, look at politicians.
text messages, at one point were a means by which to enhance communication through convenience. people now use them as a way of courage, its easy to ask that girl out through 160 characters, it saves the feeling of embarrassment if she declines. cowards use it to break up with their partners, or tell people they are fired. its often the first choice when searching for a way to deliver anything less than good news.
all these ways we have to communicate and connect, but people still have no clue on how to say what needs to be said, or when to allow silence to speak. i guess modern advances in technology have made it way too easy to say the wrong thing all the time. i just hope when its all said and done, i made decisions that allowed my life to thrive beyond the inbox of my cell phone. communication is the lost art of communication.
Most of the time we say (write) what we would have just thought to ourselves just under a decade ago.