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Commentary: E-mail and phone are just fine, thanks
Commentary by Mac Olsen
for Smoky River Express
It was 15 years ago, while in an office administration program at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. that I had my first encounter with electronic mail, or e-mail.
It was intriguing to type out my very first message and send it to another person via the Internet. What a great advance in technology and communication, I thought.
How computer technology and communications have changed since then, although not necessarily for the better, primarily because there are too many choices offered, particularly the social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
It’s also incomprehensible why some people post foolish streaming videos of themselves on social media sites. To cite one example, in August 2009, three Saskatchewan men were charged after they placed a video on YouTube of themselves illegally shooting ducklings. They received fines as well as a three-year ban on acquiring hunting licenses.
Granted, the YouTube posting was direct evidence of their crime which prosecutors were able to use in their case against them. But the line has to be drawn when youth, gangs and others post videos of themselves deliberately fighting and attacking others. Such postings not only make others think it’s okay to do it themselves, it’s also humiliating for the victim(s).
But there’s also something very impersonal about social media sites. Unlike a phone or a face-to-face meeting, you’re not talking directly to the person at the other end. All you’re doing is leaving a message, text or video.
However, the human connection is more evident in the face-to-face meeting or talking over the phone with family, friends, coworkers, etc. A social media site posting simply doesn’t have that human connection for me.
It might be argued that an e-mail is impersonal, too. But, excluding unwanted spam, I look at it as an efficient form of communication if direct voice or face-to-face contact isn’t possible.
Another form of communication I question is the Internet chat room. You just don’t know with absolute certainty the person you’re communicating with is actually the person they say they are.
Moreover, meeting someone anonymously in a chat room could prove very dangerous. There has been more than one news report of a child talking to someone in an Internet chat room whom they think they can trust, but it turns out to be a predator.
It’s also irritating to have to learn the short hand messages found in some of those chat rooms, such as LOL for “laugh out loud.”
Then there are the cell phones and other communication devices, like the iPhone and Blackberry, with all their bells and whistles. I have a cell phone which, apart from my office phone, is my primary communications device.
With many service providers offering affordable plans and expanded, reliable zones of coverage, it makes sense to have one. Moreover, in an emergency, a 9-1-1 call can be made more quickly with a cell phone in hand instead of going a long distance to make the call.
Thus, while I have embraced certain advances in computer technology and telecommunications, I take much of it with a grain of salt. Face-to-face and direct voice communication is preferable whenever possible.
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