Before cell phones and text messaging, before the internet and email, before the telephone, before the typewriter, people used to write letters by hand. They knew their language, both the writing part and the reading part.
Today in this fast paced world people don’t take the time to write letters anymore. A quick email here, and text message their, an entry in a blog or on MySpace are what communication is today. I’m as guilty as the next person, except that I don’t instant message, chat or text. I’m much to wordy for any of those media. It is just too sad that people don’t know anything about the complete art of letter writing/reading.
NOTICE!!! I included reading in my assessment of a lost art. Before the advent of all these new ways to communicate, people took the time to read their letters. They were not meant to be a quick read. These were missives that someone took time to write and they deserved time in reading also.
Why am I mentioning this? Good question, I asked it of myself too. It seems that some maybe most people are looking at blog sites, and bulletin boards as direct communication to themselves. They take comments meant for general consumption and think others are talking about them. They have hard feelings when they think something or someone is against them. Now, I will admit that in some cases they may have a valid point, but in others, people weren’t talking or writing about them. But they want to take in personally.
Then again, people today don’t think before they write. They can write things that could be considered cruel toward an individual or a group. People then get bent out of shape and small wars tarnish the blogs, bulletin boards and myspace accounts. So sad sometimes. Good conversations are ruined by misunderstandings. It happens almost everywhere on the web.
So in this, I asked myself: Why?. I came up with one simple idea. It could be something, it could be nothing at all. We are losing the ability to communicate effectively with the written word, just by not paying attention to what we write and how we read. Is this something we will miss in our lives, or will the older members of society who remember this sort of communication, just talk (write?) about the good ol’ days.
Just one word of advice to those who read Blogs, myspace accounts, bulletin boards, emails, text msgs. and the like. If you read something that bothers you, take some time, leave it, come back to it later read it again. Before responding in haste or anger, make sure you understand what is written,and if those word really apply to you. I’ve used that since the my very first e-mail, and intend to keep using that practice well into my very last e-mail or whatever form of communication the future brings me.