29th June 2014

A WEAKNESS WITH TECHNOLOGY
Mobiles, facebook, internet, twitter etc, there are so many ways that people are able to communicate today. It truly is a  modern, social revolution as people are able to meet and know each other, in all sorts of ways. We are told this really is “the future”. Relationships will “never be the same again.” It may well be. BUT, I do have one nagging doubt.

In the past, apart from meeting people personally, the only other forms were letters or phone calls. The former, letters, could often be intimate or powerful, given the nature of the written word, or indeed today a typed word. When it came to the spoken word, however, I always had a problem. I only had a  telephone in the house once I was ordained! Prior to that, when I was growing up, we were simply too poor to have a phone.
The first phone I had was once I was ordained; it was essential for work. But I was never 100% happy with it, for one simple reason, I couldn’t see the person’s face.

When we only have the spoken or written word, we miss out on so much as to what the person is really saying or thinking: our expressions reveal so much. For example when I had to assess someone’s mental state as a social worker, I would never dream of doing it over the phone. You have to see the person’s facial expressions, body posture etc.
Yes, modern communications can and do great things work wise and in our social lives. But, if we think this will replace the interactions we experience when we meet, I think we are mistaken.
Yes, I’ve come across many examples where people met and have fallen in love on the internet. Equally, however, I’ve met so many where it’s gone horribly wrong, when the person they finally meet is so different from the person they thought they were. Given they only had the written word to build a relationship, the only thing that surprises me, is that they were surprised by such a possible outcome.
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