The New Conversation
Some dated back to the 1960's.
I'd never really understood why she held on to them. Several drawers of her nightstand were filled with hundreds of yellowing envelopes, the different shades giving a clear indication just how old each section really was. I never really saw her go back and read any of them, so my question seemed very natural (at least as natural as natural can be when you're a teenager)
"Mom, why do you keep all those old letters?"
I don't remember her exact words, but I do remember the look on her face. In seconds, I saw happiness, grief, passion, and even a hint of embarrassment. She explained to me that she has always enjoyed writing and receiving letters, then showed me some of them. Mom had kept letters from her parents, school friends, former love interests (hence the hint of embarrassment mentioned earlier) and close friends. "It helps me remember all the important people in my life," she went on to say.
As I sit here today and think about that moment, it makes even more sense. Not only were those letters from important people in my mother's life, the letters themselves were important reminders about communication. Maybe more importantly...reminders about how much it means to people when we communicate freely and clearly.
Back in the day, writing and receiving letters was the way many communicated. Then came the telephone. Yes the phone was a new way to "reach out and touch someone," but in my opinion, it never replaced letter writing.
Until the Internet.
Yes it's true, when email become commonplace, people still wrote to each other. But letters became paragraphs and often times, one or two lines. Still, email became king when it was time to communicate, and you were all but left out if you didn't have an email address.
Then came the cell phone. Technology had made it easy to take the conversation with you, wherever you go. No more looking for payphones, you could instantly connect with anyone through their landline or cell phone. The conversation continued, and the majority of conversations had moved from email back to the phone.
So, where is the conversation today? Some of us still write letters, almost all of us have a cell phone. But technology has reached out and poked us again, this time suggesting we begin talking in 140 characters...or less.
I'm a believer that most of the conversations in 2011 and happening via Social Media. Whether it's on Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, or cool Internet tools like Skype, people are carrying on through social media. Once it was letter writing, then the phone, then email, the back to the portable phone. Each of these methods were where most conversations happened during their time.
Is it a good thing? Is it bad? Before you rush to any judgement, keep this in mind: If most of today's conversations are happening in social media, why would you not get involved?
I'd never really understood why she held on to them. Several drawers of her nightstand were filled with hundreds of yellowing envelopes, the different shades giving a clear indication just how old each section really was. I never really saw her go back and read any of them, so my question seemed very natural (at least as natural as natural can be when you're a teenager)
"Mom, why do you keep all those old letters?"
I don't remember her exact words, but I do remember the look on her face. In seconds, I saw happiness, grief, passion, and even a hint of embarrassment. She explained to me that she has always enjoyed writing and receiving letters, then showed me some of them. Mom had kept letters from her parents, school friends, former love interests (hence the hint of embarrassment mentioned earlier) and close friends. "It helps me remember all the important people in my life," she went on to say.
As I sit here today and think about that moment, it makes even more sense. Not only were those letters from important people in my mother's life, the letters themselves were important reminders about communication. Maybe more importantly...reminders about how much it means to people when we communicate freely and clearly.
Back in the day, writing and receiving letters was the way many communicated. Then came the telephone. Yes the phone was a new way to "reach out and touch someone," but in my opinion, it never replaced letter writing.
Until the Internet.
Yes it's true, when email become commonplace, people still wrote to each other. But letters became paragraphs and often times, one or two lines. Still, email became king when it was time to communicate, and you were all but left out if you didn't have an email address.
Then came the cell phone. Technology had made it easy to take the conversation with you, wherever you go. No more looking for payphones, you could instantly connect with anyone through their landline or cell phone. The conversation continued, and the majority of conversations had moved from email back to the phone.
So, where is the conversation today? Some of us still write letters, almost all of us have a cell phone. But technology has reached out and poked us again, this time suggesting we begin talking in 140 characters...or less.
I'm a believer that most of the conversations in 2011 and happening via Social Media. Whether it's on Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, or cool Internet tools like Skype, people are carrying on through social media. Once it was letter writing, then the phone, then email, the back to the portable phone. Each of these methods were where most conversations happened during their time.
Is it a good thing? Is it bad? Before you rush to any judgement, keep this in mind: If most of today's conversations are happening in social media, why would you not get involved?
I'm a big fan of your writing, and wish you'd do it more often. I thought there was some interesting insight in this post in regards to the different methods of conversation, and you're right, today's conversations seem to be happening for the most part in social media.
However, I wouldn't call it the "new" conversation, because you realize the moment you do that, the next conversation forum will be here. LOL!
Keep writing, Brian.
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Brian, I have been using text email since I joined the Navy in the 80's. Of course, government only, using IP-based email addresses as there was no domain names or actual Internet as we know it now.
Being on the edge of technology for 30+ years, I have seen both success and disaster for many IT-related ventures.
Having the Instant Gratification of today's Social Media platforms and gadgets, people have changed how they're communicating, even my mother who gave up letter-writing a few years ago in favor of email.
Some can be extremely addicted to such methods (Yep, I got your tweet on my "CrackBerry") and I am still amazed when people start complaining about service-outages or issues (Like the PlayStation Network being down since the 26th of April). What would happen to our "civilized" society without Internet or electricity? I think that people would be picking up a pen, handing it over to the Pony Express rider for delivery to the next outpost.
One good solar flare and no more OMG or ROFLMAO as it would wipe out our technological addictions, setting us back a hundred years until the infrastructure was replaced(estimated at least 20-30 years in the case of a massive solar event.)
My step-daughter has a laptop, an iTouch and Android-powered smartphone, and "OMG!" I have never seen her use all of the above on the same day or at the same time for that matter. How do you think that the I-generation (I for Internet) would adapt if they were too lose all of this. Not very well, methinks!
But thank goodness, I still have the occasional letter come in, written in archaic hand-written script. At least if it has hand-writing, you know it isn't a bill and you can eagerly rip into it. And I still have a pen that works with pads of lined paper, ready to go....
Bring on the Sun!!
Billy in Mission, British Columbia
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Hey, Brian. Good post.
Letters were something we lived for back when mail call brought word from home, loved ones and sometimes packages of cookies. It was the only line of communication with the familiar. But, even then, I was moving away from manually writing. I used a typewriter from before I graduated high school until the advent of personal computers. My handwriting is atrocious, not that it has ever been very good. So, I never really participated in the art of hand-writing letters.
Still, in that time and form, the conversation had a permanence. More thought was applied to putting words down on paper. Some published collections from the early part of the 20th Century show how the form impacted people and the conversations of the time.
Today, though, we have a faster mode and form and the conversation has more content than ever before. Maybe not as much thought is applied to each communication, but there is more communication and more ground is covered by more people in community. The conversation isn't just limited to the social media forms. Even in 144 characters, we get links to blogs, news articles and other references. This expands our experience and the content of the conversation.
The conversation has expanded beyond the capability of the hand-written letter. Yes, there is still a personal connection with the hand-written letter from a dear friend or loved one. But the form is self-limiting and we find it quaint in comparison to a similar communication via email or social media that includes video, photos and other content.
Where we go from here is the next adventure. Full speed ahead.
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Nice to see you back on your blog, Brian. I really enjoy reading it, so write more? What are you doing these days?
Todd
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New conversations start with new year! It's time to see beyond and make some real effort to make our life better.
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