Technology: good vs. evil

It is not a new idea technology is changing the way we communicate with the world. Cell-phones, the internet, email, and for that matter... the telephone and writing in even in simplest form. For a long time now, people have been using more than simple speech to communicate their ideas and information from one person to another. Aside from the arts, which I would argue are perhaps more equipped to communicate more complex ideas than spoke speech, the simple lecture or groupings of phrases has evolved in an interesting way as of late.

At first, one man could only be heard to those he could look in the eye. From there, his message would only spread by either himself physically going from person to person, or by word-of-mouth, which often fell victim to the errs of the modern telephone game. Beyond personal speech, people wrote letters, usually to an individual or group of individuals, but also to large groups. In Biblical times, a letter could be send to a church, and that letter would be read aloud, by the messenger, to the entire congregation. Many scholars believe this was the intended purpose of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Why would the messenger read it, you may ask, instead of the local pastor? Well, in short, it was the messenger that understood the authors work, who knew when to pause and which parts of the letter to emphasize. Even in letters, a personal touch was needed to convey an idea, thought, or message.

Beyond writing letters, man soon on built amphitheaters, which allowed one man, with only geographical acoustical assistance, to speak to literally thousands, without any need for relay messengers or anything more than simply his voice. Even then, the communication was personal. Though he was speaking to thousands, he could see, smell, and hear the thousands, as they could him. The could hear the way he spoke, and which words contained the higher level of importance. Beyond even his speech, they could read his body language and his gestures.

80% of communication is non-verbal, and so, what happens when we strip ourselves of that percentage in effort to achieve more "effective communication".

The telephone allowed us to hear vocal inflections, and the pen allowed us to see emphasis with change in writing style, capital letters, and other markings that could be made. On this blog, I am limited to adding a bold or italic font to various words, and even that, I try and refrain from, as I fear it would be taken out of context. I once had a professor that even mocked the ":-)" signs we use in emailing, as well as "lol" or "haha", as it not only demonstrated our inability to properly and confidently imply humor or joy, but it also showed us how horribly impersonal our communication was becoming, that we would use symbols or acronyms to try and convey emotion.

Thus enters the 21st century, and the age of text messaging, instant messaging, email we depend on, blogging, and discussion boards. It appears that we have found a more effective way to communicate, or rather, a more abundant form of communication, but in truth, are we saying any more than we use to?

Trusty anonymous responded to my last post with a question. He/She asked me who I was trying to address with my comments or posts. To that, I responded "the anonymous collective", referencing some some lyrics. However, that question raises an interesting point, and one that I would like to address and question with this post.

First, the purpose of my blogging and vLogging. In short, they are both attempts of communication, but to who, and for what purpose? Well, to both questions, I respond, to the anonymous collective, for the purpose of discovering life admits these ashes of dust we have found ourselves in.

When I first began my blog, I had a generally decent grasp of who I was writing to. And therefor, it was to them that I was writing my various posts. Now, however, with the realization of "anonymous observers", my blog has become an open ended conversation with the world at large. Granted, my audience is still fairly limited, as there are only 4 ways to arrive at this page.....Those that are reading this have most probably found their way here through either Facebook (because you know me in real life), YouTube (because you stumbled upon one of my vLogs), Blogspot (because you either know me there, or saw me commenting on a friends blog), or because you were given this internet address by either myself or a friend who told you something to the effect of "this guy is crazy, come and laugh with me at his craziness" :-) I suppose a person could also find this via Google... but that would just be crazy... haha. The point is though, that in some way, you either know me, have seen me (if even through a vLog, or know someone in my world. Therefore, to me, you are worth talking to. (not that I necessarily find strangers worth talking to...lol)

A while back, I finally decided to stop trying to figure out who my audience was, but instead to accept that I am having an open conversation with strangers who have found their way into my world, pseudo-strangers (and by that I mean acquaintances), and those I have found myself fortunate enough to call friends. Therefore, my posts are now aimed at the "anonymous collective", those of us (myself included) who exist here on earth together, who are victims or accomplishments (whatever your outlook) of the society at large as well as your own decisions. These posts are directed to the anonymous collective, who are "molded by things well beyond our acknowledgment".

As for the content of my posts, I assure you that I am not just here to ask questions, but questions are certainly one of my tools in life. For whatever reason, I have chosen to not accept the status-quo as is, but rather, I would like to make my own life out of this time on Earth that I have been given. These posts are written to you, to myself, and to anyone else who feels that engaging in the thoughts presented and discussed in this blog are beneficial, in some way, or at least worth the time it takes to read these posts, if for no other reason than to contrive some form of amusements or to simply check up on an old friend. The questions I ask at the end of these posts, are to those that respond, and to those that choose to simply think about it.... So, that is my audience and purpose. If you find the posts too personal, bare with me, as I am just trying to tell you about myself. If you find them too serious, charismatic, or insane... well, you may just have to deal with it. :-)

Now back to reality.... I say all that to say this: Blogging, while it allows me to get out information, it is still a victim of the social retardation we have seen as a society in the last 20 years. With the advent of email, text messaging, and instant messaging, we are starting to see extremely impersonal communication all around us. What was once a conversation between two people, now often is simple aside after aside, made in one person's desperate attempt for attention. One of the big things that upsets me about blogging is the lack of communication that I have with my readers. Occasionally I will get interactive comments, but many times, all I receive are attacks or criticism. Now, while I do value those opinions, I would hope that my "communication" with the world could be more than just this dreaded cycle of: statement, attack, defense. I wish blogging could be interactive, like a friendship is... however, without that 80%, not to mention the fact that I am blind to who my audience even is, often my ideas are miscommunicated at best. This is why I often ask questions with my posts, and even why I allow anonymous replying to my comments. I want to speak with this "anonymous collective" about life... and not simply lecture AT them.

Well, this post was all over the board... as I am sure that any conversation with me would be. So, I have one closing question for you... and I am sure that it will lead to my next posts... hopefully containing many of your ideas:

Do you think text messaging, instant messaging, and email benefit or harm or society more? Think about it, all the way through, and let me know what your thoughts are. I look forward to hearing from you, even if you choose to post anonymously.