As
much as I love music, today I’m not going to talk
about Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen (I really do love Cheri Cheri Lady though). Jeez, I
guess I simply can’t refrain from digressions and weird references. Okay, back to
the point, the topic of today’s rant is (drumroll)… the peculiarities of modern
conversations. Mostly digital ones. Because, at least in our Western society,
we simply can’t imagine communication without digital devices. Yes, such an
original and absolutely not mainstream topic again. And now you might think
that this article, just like thousands of others, will harshly criticize this
form of connection. Well, actually, I can’t say that you’re wrong.
We all know how incredibly easy it is to reach someone
nowadays. Touching a few buttons and starting a conversation with one person on
one app. Touching some more and starting a conversation with another on another
platform. And then the third, fourth,…, one-hundred-fifty-seventh. You can
reach anyone you want at any time, but (here’s the catch) anyone (you don’t
want) can reach you at any time as well. And our precious devices keep ringing,
and ringing, until it all merges into harmonious cacophony. So much noise,
codes and letters. The sound of words turned into a ringing and vibrating
world. We - intimidatingly robotically - communicate with codes and dings. Perhaps
deus ex machina not metaphorically anymore? Or homo ex machina? And it’s
difficult to convey emotion through ringing – in this whole new transmission of
emotions and thoughts we are guided by merely a few superficial emojis, K’s,
haha’s and lol’s here and there.
But of course, at the same time we are less obliged to
maintain the conversation. Ignorance has become incredibly easy (if you manage
to avoid opening the message). Not replying is easy. Ever heard of ghosting –
simply cutting someone off (a bit ironic though, aren’t ghosts
supposed to haunt people)? What if we adopted this lovely technique in real
life? Next time someone asks me something I don’t want to answer or bothers me,
I might try staring silently and then walking away. Or perhaps not replying instantly.
Digital devices give us more time to create tension, tease the respondent, make
it look as if we don’t care, as if we’re too busy. To think of, carefully plan
and strategize our responses. Not all of this is all that terrible, of course,
but most of it leads to the loss of the natural flow and spontaneity of the
conversation.
And how about relationships in the digital age? You see,
now it’s easier to maintain them by staying in touch even while being in two
different parts of the globe, separated by miles and miles of vast land and ocean,
and that, I guess, is great. However. Nurtured by this constant need to
communicate via digital means, relationships, paradoxically, become more fragile
and less withstanding. We are able to stay in touch all the time to the extent
where less ringing leads to weakening connection; communication is so accessible
that the slightest lack of it might signalize the end of relationship. Would we
manage to preserve it without talking or texting for a few weeks, months even
years? Probably not. We want it now, we want it convenient and we want it easy
(and not just in terms of relationships). Modern means of communication brings
us closer but drives us further apart, we are connected more while also being lonelier
than ever.
What does all of this mean? Digital conversations are
so entrenched into our reality that it’s almost impossible (or difficult) to
avoid them when talking to friends, lovers, making plans, job arrangements,
even studying. And yes, it is convenient
(especially in the current situation where we are physically unable to meet
with the ones we care about), it is easy. Disappearing from the digital world
might make you partly disappear from the real one (Although what is real at
this point? Okay, okay I should probably leave these philosophical digressions for some other time).
It is feasible but comes with a price. Just like digital communication does. Damned
if you do and damned if you don’t.
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