Has The Internet Killed Conversation?

As I think about how I communicate today and recall how my parents communicated when I was a child, which wasn’t all that long ago as I’m only 35, I think to myself...do I communicate more now than people aged 35 did 30 years ago?...cast your mind back to 1981...

My parents often say “The art of conversation is dead, you young ones don’t know how to talk anymore”.  But is this really true?  Has Technology really killed

the art of conversation or, and this is my view, has it simply just changed the way in which we communicate for the better?

When you look at the communication methods of the time... (for those old enough to remember)...it was the telephone (expensive)...written mail (slow)...telegrams...face-2-face (requires people to travel)... I think to myself that whilst the actual art of conversation i.e. being able to hold down a conversation with someone and just talk, on the face of it seems to have disappeared, I don’t believe conversation is dead, we just communicate differently and therefore people don’t always see it happening.

It can also be said that the way in which we live has also affected conversation.  Everyone seems so busy now, hurrying around, going to work, going shopping, going about their daily lives... and here’s the main difference... we all drive everywhere.  Back then, cars were not exactly a luxury, but not everyone had them and families certainly didn’t have more than 1 car where I lived.  Nowadays, families have 2,3 or more... 1 each for the kids!  So what has this done to conversation?  Well, I put it to you that back then, people would actually come out of their houses just to talk to their neighbours, you’d sit or stand at one another’s front door just catching up..spreading gossip about what people were doing, who they were with, what they were up to.  Do you honestly think people don’t talk about these things today?  Of course they do! 

We live in a digital world...FACT!  and there is nothing that’s going to change that... not for the foreseeable future anyway, until we perfect teleportation and can be in one another’s front rooms in seconds.  So we must embrace it, understand it, use technology to our advantage not ignore it as being something we don’t understand.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say to you this... look at the intelligence level of teenagers these days.  Now think back to the teenagers of 30 years ago.  There is a vast difference.  Whilst some might argue that our teenagers might not be able to do simple arithmetic, I would counter with, that’s because there is no need for them to be able to.  Computers do it all for them... and why?  Because business moves fast, we don’t have the time to stand there in a store waiting for the kid behind the counter to add things up with a pencil and paper.  The world just doesn’t work like that anymore... but who’s fault is this?  Is it the child?  No, it’s the adults running businesses wanting to get ahead, wanting to grow, wanting more sales!

Our teenagers and even younger children, all know how to operate every single electrical device in the home...do you?  They know how to get on the internet, they know how to send texts, use facebook... Twitter... Myspace... program the sky+/Tivo box, set up your surround sound...the list goes on.  They have become masters in the technology and tools the modern day world, and more importantly, modern business, use.  If you asked one of them to type an email about their hobby, it would be done in a flash...heck, they’d probably build you a website about it in a few days.

We communicate using modern technology, it’s just the way it is... does it really stop us talking?  I don’t believe so, I just think parents don’t see it like they used to when kids would sit in the living room and talk and play.  Now they are upstairs in their bedrooms, playing on the x-box or playstation online with their buddies, but yet still talking...about the modern world, about modern things that interest them, about technology, about websites, about youtube video’s, about what the latest celebrities are doing, about what they themselves and their friends are doing, who they are with, where they are going...Sound familiar?  The bottom line is they are still talking... via email, text, bbm or mobile phone calls.  So I put it to you that our elders have perhaps lost touch with the modern world... that they have chosen to ignore it out of ignorance... excusing themselves from using it by saying ‘I don’t understand it’... I say to you... you’re children didn’t know how to use it either... but they taught themselves or asked someone to show them. I’d say this makes them pretty darn clever.  Wouldn’t you want to understand how they are coominicating and be a part of that... you never know, they might want to have an actual conversation about something, about what’s going on in their lives.

So how about trying technology... I mean REALLY trying technology... actually learn how the modern world communicates, and perhaps..just maybe... the modern world will communicate back!

P.S – If you’re reading this, you’re online...that’s a great start!  Now go and use google to learn more about the things that interest you.  Think of it not as modern technology, but a library at your fingertips!