Whatever happened to the art of face to face conversation?

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   snapcracklepopposted 8 years ago

   Whatever happened to the art of face to face conversation?
   
   Gone are the days of live, "in the same room" personal interaction. Technology has made "real" conversations rare. Texting, email, Skype, social media and the like have replaced families sitting around the dinner table and enjoying one another. At restaurants, train and bus stations, airports and bustops and just walking down the street, people are looking at their cell phones, iPads and laptops. The silence is erie.
   
   

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2. 84

   Au faitposted 8 years ago

   Technology happened to it.  The younger generation will often be walking along together texting to each other rather than conversing if you've ever noticed.
   
   I can't tell you the number of times I've observed people having lunch together, but for most of the time they will be engrossed in their cell phones, playing a game, texting, etc., and paying no attention to each other.
   
   Just as the knowledge of how to cook, sew, write in script, or do math without a calculator is being lost, the art of conversation and many other things are following close behind.
   
   I told my daughter several years ago already when she didn't want to learn how to cook that a day will come when people will starve to death because they will be surrounded by food and not know how to prepare it.  Bags of flour and sugar, etc.  All capable of keeping a person alive, but no one will know what to do with it.
   
   The less knowledge people have, the more dependent they will be on the few who will have that knowledge.  I can invision a day not far off when people will depend on audio books and messages and not know how to read.
   
   Once the majority of people can no longer read, all manner of messages can be all around us and we won't know what they say.  Does anyone reading this recall the Twilight Zone where aliens came to Earth and were walking among us waving a book that said in English, "How to Serve Man?"  It was written in the alien language except for the title.  Turned out to be a recipe book.
   
   Think how easily people will be controlled once they no longer know how to read or write.  This is a choice people are making today, whether or not to start down that road.  Many schools have already stopped teaching script.  Parents would be wise to insist that their children learn reading and writing, and to teach their children never to allow anyone to take that knowledge from them or from their children in the future.
   
   Mind you, I'm not recommending this, but  writing what I believe young people would say if you asked them -- much easier to converse on the phone or text.  With texting you can watch a movie at the same time . . .

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      snapcracklepopposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Where I live they are trying to bring back "cursive" hand writing which has all but been encouraged in our schools. Students are now learning to write their signatures for later use in their life when signing documents or to sign their paychecks.

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   snapcracklepopposted 8 years ago

   Yes technology has caused society to neglect personal attention to one another. Thank you C E Clark (Au fait)

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      snapcracklepopposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Chloe Davis Smith it's the same as if you were back in day when we talked on land phones. The concern is being so caught up with our electronic devices that we cannot even interact with the person(s) sitting right next to us or in the same room/area

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      bradmasterOCcalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you. Virtual communication dn give the same kind of communication as face2face. interesting ?. Ask people if they had to spend the rest of their life in confinement. Which would they choose virtual or face2face communication?

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      snapcracklepopposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      bradmasterOCcal great point and very nice scenario! Thank you. I also agree with you.

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   nochanceposted 8 years ago

   How is a text conversation any less real than a verbal one?
   
   Technology allows me to remain friends with people who live hours from me and that I am unable to see face to face very often.
   
   In "the old days" if you moved away you just had to hope that they would be interested in writing you letters to stay in contact.

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      snapcracklepopposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hugs, kisses, handshakes, holding hands and the like cannot be done over a device....it is true that technology connects people over a screen but you simply cannot get that real genuine personal interaction by skyping.

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