i'm sitting here in a cafe in downtown lancaster. got some pete yorn coming through my headphones and just enjoying myself. i'm thinking about community and communication. right now i would like nothing more to be conversing with someone and developing a deeper relationship. or maybe even starting a new one. but i'm not.
and i have a feeling that i don't look very approachable either. sitting here, typing on my computer, with headphones in my ears. it would take a remarkably gutsy person to walk up to me and start a conversation. now i am not necessarily trading anything, but i am communicating over the internet. not exactly the closest and deepest form of communication. in fact, a very safe venue.
or is it? see the things is, i seem to expect the same thing out of electronic communication that i do out of face to face. if i say something to you, you will respond because it is how it works, but over the internet it doesn't work that way. we can hide behind our computers and not respond to others. i do it all the time. i'll read an email and then 2 weeks later realize that i haven't responded to this person. not good.
or you have facebook where there may or may not be any communication, but we are looking at other's profiles without interacting with them. that seems even more backwards.
well, although this is the mode i am in now, i can tell you that i would love nothing more than to have that face to face conversation. i think that most of us want that. so what's holding us up?
probably people typing on computers, listening to their headphones.
2 comments:
Life. Life gets in the way. So often the situation we're in doesn't allow for much in depth interaction. Too bad.
I don't mean to sound argumentative, Anonymous, but that is just an excuse (in my opinion). Yes, life is busy but if relationships are my priority then I will make a place for it, regardless of how busy my schedule is.
I think part of the problem is that we (as a society) are becoming too comfortable with individualism and privacy. We don't depend on people the way our grandparents did.
However I agree with you Matt in that I think most people would welcome interaction with others. Personally, even though I'm more introverted than extroverted, if someone wanted to chat with me at a coffee shop, I'd love it!
My two cents...
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