But this isn't the only thing that is changing due to our increasingly digitally-connected lives. While the Internet Age has in some ways increased our ability to communicate with each other by reducing the issues that distance, time zones and message speed once posed, this technology has also caused a saddening decline in thoughtful communication.
We can communicate at a moment's notice with people around the world, yet we fail to really spend time crafting our communication so that it is mindful. Our reliance on digital means to communicate is resulting in the 'loss' of something which was once a key element of being a civilized and educated person -- handwritten correspondence.
Oddly enough, if you asked my friends, I would not be the person they would pick as a 'poster-child' or advocate for the 'dying' art of letter writing. In fact, as the people who know me would generally tell you, I am more of a 'poster-girl' for the benefits of Internet communication. I hold a PhD in Internet communication and have spent the last 15 years studying various phenomena related to the Internet, including online education practices, social media, online communities, fangroups online and social media marketing. But what most people don't realize is that while I adore the Internet and the 24/7 'hum' of communication as the bits and bytes whiz through the ether from one computer to another, at heart I am a pen and paper sort of girl.
I still love the thrill of a brand new journal and the promises inherent in the blank pages. New sketchbooks can send me into paroxysms of joy. And the pen aisle of any office supplies store is enough to make me drool -- to the point that my husband knows it is not (financially) a wise idea to turn me loose in an office supply store or craft store unsupervised or with an ATM card.
There is something elegant, refined and calming to me about writing with a comfortable pen on proper paper. For one thing, the blank page doesn't laugh at me like the blinking cursor seems to (I sometimes wonder how many 'Great Novels' never were written all for fear of that laughing cursor). In an ironic twist, my PhD dissertation was on Internet communication and instead of being written on a computer, the first draft of the entire thing (all 400 pages of it) was written in long-hand, on legal pads, with a particular kind of pen (and no other type would do).
So here I am, an Internet communication scholar who has spent most of her teaching career teaching effective electronic, written and verbal communication, creating a blog to revive a dying communicative art -- correspondence.
As a scholar that examines online communication, I have seen first hand how the instantaneous nature of Internet communication gives us the illusion of being 'personal' when in fact it is not personal at all -- quite the opposite in fact. The very act of shooting off a 'quick' message to others is done with so little thought, that it reduces what little 'personal' interaction might have been in the interaction, rendering most communication sterile, lifeless and impersonal.
While the inspiration for this blog stemmed from a personal project to revive the art of letter writing in my own life, I decided to share this with others, not only promoting the 'lost' art of letter writing, but also to speak about the 'forgotten' art of mindful communication.
In a world that finds us constantly surrounded by 'noise' in the guise of 'communication', the art of communicating in a thoughtful manner has been all but forgotten.
Some still say 'the pen is mightier than the sword', but I say it is only mightier if we learn to weld it properly.
So I challenge you to pick up your pens.
En guarde!
