It seems very strange these days, the way we are acting as human beings.  How is it so that we can turn on one of these machines and exchange ideas freely with others the world over, but we most often cannot go next door and have a conversation with our neighbor?  Why is it so much easier to find friendship and carry on in communication with someone who is invisible?

We do not interact as easily, or readily with other human beings as we do with our machines.

What did we do before we began to do what we do now?  And how gradual the change has taken place.

The world makes us a lot of who we are.  Then we change the world a little and it makes different people for the next generation.  Everything we can get with our machines is one less thing we need from other people.  We become more and more individual, and less and less social everyday.

We all like to talk more than we like to listen.

Web pages seem to be real evil instruments today.  Each no more than a selfish personal expression.  Either you read and listen, or you find something else that is more interesting.  How many pages do I click through because it does not grab me right off?  How much valuable information am I missing out on because I click right out of it?  How many of these homepages are total expressions of who a person is, like my site?  And I am able to judge by a quick look as to whether or not there is anything there for me?

I figure the differences between spoken communication, (such as vocal conversation) and written communication, (such as computer textualization) is mainly one of forced balance.

Communication, and conversation are expressions of intangible ideas and thoughts.  We can vocalize or we can write.  What is the advantage of one form over the other?

Spoken, or vocalized conversation has the advantage of requiring nothing but the individuals involved, and knowledge of the same language.  There are also inflections and intonations that can speak above and beyond the words we present, and of course, body language.  These additions to the actual message being spoken can add much to the intangible image being presented, but they are also able to detract from it as well.

Written, or symbolised conversation has the disadvantage of not being instantaneous, and requiring both some media to write upon, and some tool to write with.  You must choose your words carefully, for there is no contact to judge the body language or response of the recipient until you have finished expressing your idea.  Only after the message is received and read, and a response made to it, will you know if you have made the point or image you were trying for, or if you must start over.  Very little can be expressed in written form apart from the message itself.    This form though, does have the advantage that there is very little room for problems such as interruption; interpretations based upon unfinished thoughts and incomplete ideas; and the fact that the other party need not be concentrating upon every spoken word to interpret what you are saying - they can read and re-read your statement before making a response.

When two or more people are speaking together, there is quite often the problem of opinions getting in the way of understanding.  The first three words out of someone's mouth may say something that immediately shuts down our ears and starts up our own mind to composing a counter-statement, and in so doing we miss the other half of their sentence.  This is very annoying to me.

Two or more people speaking vocally can truly be "talking over each other" and not hearing anything the other is saying and trying to express.  The person who is first talked over does not always stop in the middle of his/her sentence when the other starts talking.  If they stop, they may lose their direction of thought.  But if they continue to talk while another is responding, there is really no reason, for the other is not listening at all!  Then the first person tries to answer the interruption with another idea that was not a part of the original progression.  If this too is talked over, very soon the whole conversation is a mess and both are talking over each other and not hearing anything but fragments of what the other is saying.  The entire point of the conversation is then derailed into a chaos of defending partial statements back and forth.  This is an argument.  But not one which can be resolved in the arena of spoken conversation without one to act as some sort of mediator.  The mediator says when to stop and when to start, so that all individuals have a place to say their piece.  With a textual communication system such as computer chat; ICQ, MIRC, or e-mail, this balance is mediated by the system.

It is a very sad state of the world, it seems, that people do not talk with each other as much as they should.  Why have we gotten so far away from  normal human interaction?

In public, we all seem to be wearing a mask of some sort, a shield to protect our real self from being known to others.  Always afraid to be open and honest.  Always trying to be someone we are not really.  I do not understand why, even though I am guilty myself.  I think it is with me because I am different, but everyone else is different too.  We are all very different.  Some of us wear a mask to appear to be the same as others.  Some of us wear a mask to appear to be different.  Makes no sense at all.
 
 
Copyright 2000 by J.S.Graham