Backward steps?

For the first blog on this site I have chosen to comment on communication. In my lifetime there have been giant leaps in the methods by which we contact other people. Before and just after WW2 there were only two ways one could communicate privately over a distance. Overlooking the use of carrier pigeons, there was the letter and the telephone. The latter was for instant dialogue and the former for slower and more measured messages. Of course there was one-way communication via public radio, with no means to make a response. Amateur radio enthusiasts could talk to each other, but needed to understand how to set up and maintain the technology. Regular and reliable two-way radio contact was confined to the armed services. In fact, there are still only two ways to communicate – voice and message, involving the abilities to listen and to read. Some may claim that showing and sharing pictures is a way of communicating, however this involves not only seeing, but also interpretation. Do you always understand the message in a cartoon? Do you listen to all the dialogue on TV?

Now, in 2020, the opportunities to communicate are overwhelming. But is society better off because of the extra systems? Are we more in touch with the needs and feelings of others? Is the public better informed? Is it more difficult to promote and distribute falsehoods and dangerous beliefs? Unfortunately, the reverse is true. The media is a bubbling cauldron of unscientific nonsense, conspiracy theories, celebrity trivia and useless advertisements. And despite all the interaction babble, we are more isolated and there are more lonely people.

Let’s take just one aspect of the mess: texting. If one wants to communicate at a distance with another, the easiest and quickest approach is to telephone. In the past you picked up the receiver, dialed the number and, provided your friend was available, talked to them. Now, for some unknown reason, the majority of the public spend much more time creating and reading messages on mobile phones. Wherever one looks in public spaces, people are head down, texting. The efficiency of voice to voice contact has been replaced by the delay involved in writing and sending messages. Progress?

Given the above criticism of modern technology, you may well question why I write blogs, without my being aware of whether the messages are being read or understood – a sort of one-way conversation hoping for a listener! The answer is that I enjoy the writing, and if someone appreciates what I have written, that is a bonus. So I will keep on keeping on.