We were slow around my house to accept the miracle called email when it first emerged. Writing to someone for free? What? There ain’t nothin’ for free! Time has since taken care of that, and I’ve embraced the ease and efficiency of email with gusto. I can be more thoughtful in the notes that I send, and in my replies. I can dash a one-liner off, but mostly I love that it avoids phone tag. I was forever leaving voice messages and depending on folks to call back.
Between email and texting, I rarely use the phone anymore and I’m starting to realize the consequence. Fewer close relationships. I talk more with my fingers, but a certain human connection is gone. You can type messages back and forth until your blue in the face, but it’s not a substitute for an actual voice.
Email’s efficiency is seductive, but it might also be a barrier by keeping personal relationships more impersonal. Perfect for the business world, maybe, but I want more with someone I really click with. Voice-to-voice connects us in a way that words on a page or cell phone screen cannot so I’m hoping to backtrack in time by picking up the phone more often. I think my granddaughter Justine (above photo) was smarter than me, even at four!