We don't talk much anymore
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Maybe it's just me, but people don't seem to talk as much anymore, over the phone at least. Nowadays people just chat over MSN and I guess, to me, it's much less of an experience. It's almost the people you talk to has been made into a homogeneous population where no one really has a real voice. Text appear in a chatbox, and that's it. All the wonderful voices, the varying intonations and the emotions of the speaker lost. Lost to a world of cyber communication. Is it that we don't have time to talk on the phone anymore? Or that chatting online is so much easier that we don't bother anymore?
I guess, as a direct result of this, the number one difference is that I'm not as close to some people who I would have otherwise been much more close to. Why? Well, really because, when you chat over the internet, there is a much less inclination for you to share more intimate information, details of your life, your past that when exchanged, would make another person feel that much closer to you. People don't share as much over the internet as opposed to a telephone call. Maybe because when you chat online, it feels so impersonal. Maybe it's because when we chat online, we don't know for sure if the person is really there and listening. Sure we still talk to each other on a day to day basis. But since when was the last time we could chat just one on one and could actually have the privacy to talk about things that mattered more. Like it or not, most online conversations are very very superficial and at the end of the day, I probably don't know you any better than I did before we started the chat.
I miss the times, the old times. When people would just call each other up and chat for the sake of chatting. Maybe everyone is still doing it and its just that no one calls me anymore. If that's the case do call me. I hate being left out. Otherwise I think it's more that people don't call other people as much anymore. Everyone is so "busy." No time to chat on the phone, but somehow they find time to chat online. Weird. Last I checked, I spoke faster than I typed. I've some fantastic memories of chatting with people on the phone and I kind of wish I could relive it. The only person I consistantly talk to on the phone anymore is my girlfriend. I still remember back in secondary school, Ah Tiong would call me on Sunday nights and we'd be on the phone watching MTV Top 10 countdowns together. It's so bloody faggotty but it's something I can remember. We'd watch Spice Girls MTV and go to class on Monday all tired and sleepy. I bet you'd have a few memorable telephone conversations as well; now let me ask you this: Do you have any ultra memorable MSN conversation that you'll likely reminice in the future?
I've been having these thoughts in my head for awhile and I brought it up as an idea for an installation art concept for my Creative Thinking class. Basically I thought the "death" of verbal communication, or so to speak, could be symbolised by a man standing there surrounded by computers and laptops and stuff. The wires of the stuff would wrap around him coilling all the way up from his feet to his head and it'll wrap around his mouth gagging him. You know, like its constricting him and preventing him from speaking. A groupmate then suggested that a net could be thrown over him to signify that he's lost in the Net (internet). I thought the whole concept was pretty cool.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I guess alot of people aren't as close to each other than they might have been without MSN. Sure I keep in contact with alot more friends this way. But the intimacy, the feeling that I truly know someone from the inside, all these have been marginalised. If you'd like, call me. Let's talk... the old fashioned way and truly get to know each other. =)
Things on my mind:
Should I delete all my porn?
Should I quit WoW?
Can I do well this Sem?
Should I stop thinking about Boobs?
Boobs.
Sprouting Nonsense Since 1984 {9:46 pm}
