You Talkin to Me?!

Last night I had a startling revelation. When was the last time (not work related) a telephone rang, and it was for me? I am speaking of a telephone. I moved off to college in 2001 and have lived without one ever since thanks to my cell phone. It is crazy to think of something being such a staple in our lives at one time, to just a few years later being almost non-existent. Will cell phones totally take the place of the “land” line, even in the business world? Of course they will. The phone line repairman, who wears the cool hard hats and gets to go for a ride in that bucket arm attached to his truck, will soon join the likes of the chimney sweepers and milk men.

Here’s some breaking news for you: The cell phone (texting) and the computer (email) are going to be the absolute demise of our communication skills. I will not lie, I am certainly guilty on all accounts here. It is so much easier to fire off a text message or shoot an email than it is to actually talk to someone, right? Sure seems backwards, but lately I have sent way more texts and emails than I have made phone calls. Kind of makes you wonder where it goes from here.

I read where 1992 was the year the first text message was sent, and there were somewhat of 1 million sent that year. Apparently there are about 200 times that sent, per day now. The thing I like about the good ole TM, is that you get right to the point and do not have to worry about the chit chat that goes along with, you know, a normal conversation. This is especially noted in my (and every other single dude I know) dating life. I can not tell you how many dates/movies/happy hours/concerts I have set up through a T-bomb, and that’s a terrible thing to say because I know that girls get very annoyed by this. They want the sweet guy to call them, and charm them, and beg them, but a simple “Hey! Blue Light 1030 Josh Abbott Gonna be awesome!” is so much easier! Probably why I’m single…

Yesterday I received 42 messages by email. 10 Junk, 8 Forwards, 5 reminders, you get the point, but I can count on one hand the hand written letters or cards I received in 2008. About a year ago, I watched a documentary on Ronald Reagan. It talked about how great he was a writing letters, and how letter writing was a lost art. This fascinated me to the point where I decided I would occasionally hand write a letter to someone. I sent out maybe 7 in 2008, which was about 7 more than the previous 5 years combined. It takes more time and effort, but can be more effective than 20 emails put together.

Long story, short. Pick up your phone and call someone. Ask them about their day or maybe even just call to say hi. If someone did something nice for you, get out a sheet of paper and pen, and write to them about how thankful you are of their generosity. Let’s try and keep our quality communication skills in tact before we turn into “text messaging/email shooting introverted zombies.” It will be for the better… ttyl