The End of the World As We Know It

Call me old-fashioned. Call me a buzz-kill. It’s okay, I can take it. But whatever you do, don’t text, Twitter, or Facebook me when you do it.

I’m on a rant, and I’m ready to declare the fine art of conversation dead for the new generation. And by new generation, I’m not talking about age, I’m talking about all those completely engaged in communicating via electronics, rather than real-live, spoken words and sentences.

I attended a conference last month by and for bloggers. And while the information shared was vital, informative and educational, the experience itself was an eye-opener. I had to chuckle when I walked into a breakout session featuring a panel of distinguished professionals. It was a question and answer format – with humans and everything. Yet a majority of attendees stared into their mesmerizing laptops, or their phones or PDFs, texting and tweeting their questions and comments, while the live panel stared at a computer screen and answered questions. There were not one, but two huge screens in the background showing the live stream of comments and questions.

Are you kidding me? I remember way back in the day, maybe five years ago, when people actually articulated conversation at a Q&A. As an attendee, I had to keep track of two screens and five humans, all while drowning out the click-clack and tap-tap-tap of keyboards and pads. Argh …. somebody stop me! Whatever happened to people…say… raising their hands and actually posing a question with their mouth and tongue and everything?

I went to dinner the other day with a friend and her coworkers, most of whom spent the entire time texting and working their thumbs like nobody’s business. My friend and I looked each other with jaws agape. Why bother? We could have stayed home with a bottle of wine and had more conversation than this!

A neighbor at the bus stop shared a story last week about how a friend has stopped talking to her, based on a “conversation” they had on Facebook. Seems like a comment made that, in person, would have revealed humor and light-heartedness, was taken as a personal slur in text. Oh boy, another story of good friendships gone bad.

A parent told me that if you really want to talk to a teenager, just text. Is there an oxymoron in there somewhere? I think so. There’s nothing like having an insightful, effective and meaningful talk with your child in 160 characters or less. I get what she was saying, but still. Isn’t there a balance?

I heard on the news that an Indiana school corporation is phasing out cursive as part of their curriculum. It’s going to be up to the parents to help them learn it. They deem it unnecessary, since “children now use electronics to communicate.” Oh boy. Don’t even get me started. I guess thank-you notes and personal letters have gone by the wayside. It’ll be, “thnx 4 gift. Luv it. L8ter ” Wow, such sentiment. Give me a tissue.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a delightful text from friends and family now and then. I’m not anti-technology. But I am concerned that the “new generation” has forgotten the importance of a good, long conversation. Or of sitting on the porch on a beautiful fall day, alone, just thinking and being, without constant updates from friends, without having to say, “i m on porch. Gr8 day!”

I miss meeting friends out for dinner, without everyone constantly flinching and looking around whenever a ringtone goes off. “Is that yours or mine?” or “Hold on a sec, I need to check this.”

I miss the raising of the eyebrows or the pensive look of thought when conversing with a child or relative. I miss a good old-fashioned business conference where people actually looked each other in the eye and shared knowledge and ideas, without having to show off their wit and intelligence through quick one-liners and catchy comebacks in text. Anyone with me on this? Let’s meet over a drink and discuss!