Preaching From Atop The Peak

Did you readers know that I'm in the School of Education at UW? Well, my latest professor seems like she'll have an enjoyable class. Among other things, she is with me all the way on the impersonal nature of computers. She thinks that email and instant messenging are destroying human social interaction and I agree with her fully. You know this, right? Emails are typically used for short, quick messages and IMing is without inflection, tone and proper pacing. And, of course, both are without visuals and tangibles.

At least letters are intended to have some meat to them. Letters ought to be at least 3 or 4 pages long, don't you think? But who even sends letters anymore? Who takes the time to frame the situation, explain the events and craft a response all on paper? We certainly don't do it by email.

So use the phone, everyone. If you're a 16-year old high school student then ignore that message and write a letter. But many of us, myself included, should try to recapture those elements of interaction that have given us the slip while our eyes have been fixed on our screens.