Patwa's Paradiso On The Web

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2nd-Jul-2007 10:19 pm - You hear me, yes? Now answer me!

A long time ago, even before the industrial revolution, communicating with someone over a long distance was a major feat. One either relied on a postal service by train, boat or foot, or if one was particularly wealthy, one had the luxury of a carrier pigeon which was inevitably considerably faster. This was all well and good, and people thought nothing of waiting anything from a few days to a few months for a response, depending on how far away the recipient was.

Then came the telephone, a technological revolution. For the first time, people could actually speak to one another across the world, and the response time shrunk from a few days to a few hours (remember these were the early days of circuit switched networks, where each connection from exchange to exchange was made by hand). This was good, but it had one major flaw. One needed to know where the other was at the time one whished to communicate, and the destination party had to be within arm's reach of a phone.

So time passed by and the 1980's dawned, and with it the advent of the extended computer network and the birth of e-mail. Another technological revolution. Now, people could cheaply and easily communicate as much data as they wanted with anyone that had an e-mail address on the ever-expanding World Wide Web network. One could even send attachments, text, pictures or sound too. But again, the recipient had to be at a computer console to receive and read the message.

The 1990's swung around, and that's when the fun really started. The mobile phone arrived, and for the first time in history anyone carrying such a device could be reached anytime, anywhere around the world. It didn't matter what the weather conditions were, how far away they were or what they were doing. One could call, and one was guaranteed a response. And just to sweeten the deal, along came text messaging, a lover's paradise and the end of an era for sticky notes left on refrigerator doors. But now we had a new, but unexpected problem. For the first time, people didn't want the ability to be at each other's beck and call, and this anytime, anywhere means of communication began to seem not so perfect after all.

Can you see where I'm going yet?

It seems to be a complete non-sequitta to me, but I've noticed over the last few years that this 'instant' method of communication isn't so instant after all. And I sometimes wonder why people get so excited about the newest mobile device on the market, or the latest low-cost calling plan, when they're unwilling to make full use of it. Maybe people have gotten tired of it. Maybe the novelty has worn off. Or maybe it's been so overused when the technology was in its infancy that people are trying to 'make up' for it by not using it to the max now.

People need and value their privacy, I understand that. And there are occasions when one doesn't want to be disturbed; meetings, eating out, a one-on-one with a lover, and so on. But everything in moderation. I send a text message to someone at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon, for example, asking for a phone number or the name of a shop, and I'm lucky if I get a response three days later in the middle of the night. Now it could be that they were in meetings, eating out, or reprocriating with a lover all that time, but frankly that's unlikely. And of course by the time I get the response, and immediately read it, the whole reason for sending the message in the first place has long since passed by.

I've spoken to people who openly admit to ignoring all messages, to only taking calls on certain days of the week or for only being available if they happen to have their mobile device with them. And these, the very same people who argued and fought for the implementation of the technology in the first place. And I ask myself, what's going on?

Tags:communication, debate, e-mail, mobile phone, post, privacy, telephone

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