I heard my CEO make the most beautiful comment today. We were just wrapping up a project briefing session when he suddenly said to one of our Chief Software Architects, "Hey bud, I owe you a few conversations!"
How poetic, thought I. And the next thing I know is that they launch into a few more finer details of the project. As I heard them speak the lingua tech, I began to wonder about this marvelous beast that technology has become and how it has impacted our conversations.
There was a time when a conversation was about expressing ... reaching out. The fluttering eye, the raised eyebrow, the waving hand, the shifting feet, the heaving bosom; all made up the unsaid, as integral to a conversation as spoken words.
Then came Alexander Graham Bell's invention and it robbed the conversation of its visual eloquence. You could reach someone a hundred miles away and speak with them. The visual eloquence was replaced with a greater emphasis on auditory intonations. The 'pause', used strategically, became pregnant with possibilities. Hurt? Anger? Thoughtfulness? Exasperation? Limitless possibilities. Human beings became voice artists. We could stutter, speak up or down, slow or fast, out-speak, etc. A combination of such punctuations combined with voice modulations made us quite expressive. The visual delight was lost, true; but our speech became so much more delightful.
As we progressed from landlines to handheld devices, we kept becoming better conversationalists!
That is until Instant Messaging invaded our lives. Conversation, romanticized as it may sound, died with the advent of IM. You could call me a hopeless eighteenth century Romantic stuck in a time-warp, but allow me to explain. I am an avid user of IM in its various pseudonyms and yes it does enhance communication. But it has been at the cost of my beloved conversation. How many countless wishes and congratulations have we sent over IMs? There are certain IM services that now allow us to send voice messages and many amongst us have used such a service at the cost of a phone call, haven't we?
I love the technological advancement of the IM service. There are so many unpleasant conversations that I have avoided thanks to these services. And, at times, I also quite revel in the cold aloofness of these text messages ;) But I also feel that I am a lesser conversationalist now than I was before I started using these services. And sometimes, I also feel that I am a colder and aloof person than I was before. And i do not revel in that feeling.
I wish you could see the faraway look in my eye, the longing smile ... I wish we could have had a conversation.
How poetic, thought I. And the next thing I know is that they launch into a few more finer details of the project. As I heard them speak the lingua tech, I began to wonder about this marvelous beast that technology has become and how it has impacted our conversations.
There was a time when a conversation was about expressing ... reaching out. The fluttering eye, the raised eyebrow, the waving hand, the shifting feet, the heaving bosom; all made up the unsaid, as integral to a conversation as spoken words.
Then came Alexander Graham Bell's invention and it robbed the conversation of its visual eloquence. You could reach someone a hundred miles away and speak with them. The visual eloquence was replaced with a greater emphasis on auditory intonations. The 'pause', used strategically, became pregnant with possibilities. Hurt? Anger? Thoughtfulness? Exasperation? Limitless possibilities. Human beings became voice artists. We could stutter, speak up or down, slow or fast, out-speak, etc. A combination of such punctuations combined with voice modulations made us quite expressive. The visual delight was lost, true; but our speech became so much more delightful.
As we progressed from landlines to handheld devices, we kept becoming better conversationalists!
That is until Instant Messaging invaded our lives. Conversation, romanticized as it may sound, died with the advent of IM. You could call me a hopeless eighteenth century Romantic stuck in a time-warp, but allow me to explain. I am an avid user of IM in its various pseudonyms and yes it does enhance communication. But it has been at the cost of my beloved conversation. How many countless wishes and congratulations have we sent over IMs? There are certain IM services that now allow us to send voice messages and many amongst us have used such a service at the cost of a phone call, haven't we?
I love the technological advancement of the IM service. There are so many unpleasant conversations that I have avoided thanks to these services. And, at times, I also quite revel in the cold aloofness of these text messages ;) But I also feel that I am a lesser conversationalist now than I was before I started using these services. And sometimes, I also feel that I am a colder and aloof person than I was before. And i do not revel in that feeling.
I wish you could see the faraway look in my eye, the longing smile ... I wish we could have had a conversation.
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