More methods, less communication?

[desikitteh]

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Facebook, twitter, email, google+, skype, phones, snail mail, the list of ways we can keep in touch goes on and on these days. There’s one little problem, though. It seems to me that the more methods we have to contact each other, the less we do it. Look at your Facebook friends list, your email contacts, even the phone numbers you have. how many of these people have you actually contacted in the last month? What about the last 6 months? a year? more? you might be surprised and a little shocked when you think about it. i discovered recently that i hadn’t spoken to one of my FB friends in 6 years. They’ve been on my friends list all that time - but we’ve not spoken. And even when we do speak, how much of it actually matters? How many friends’ birthdays do you ignore? how many just get a generic “happy birthday” with no personal variation on Facebook? Do you ever wonder how many of your friends actually might notice when you don’t contact them? Again, something that might be a little scary to think about. A friend of mine fell ill a couple of years ago. He lived alone, but he doesn’t actually live that far from me. i’m ashamed to say that i didn’t actually notice when he stopped emailing me because it’s not actually an unusual thing. Except this time it was. He had had a stroke-like episode and was collapsed on the floor of his unit unconscious. Had a friend of his from overseas not worried and attempted to make contact through other means and when that failed called the police, my friend may well have died.

Recently i got a very confused call from my mother telling me about a very cryptic, and in my opinion, passive aggressive message my paternal grandmother had written to me in the christmas card sent to my mother. important to note here:

1. my parents have not been together since before i was born.
2. i am in my early 30′s.
3. i have not lived with my mother since i was 18.
4. my grandmother knows all this.
5. i haven’t heard directly from my grandmother in over a decade despite…
6. my mother has given her my address and phone number.

so the irrelevancy of what was said aside, how does any of this makes sense?

i’m sorry, this is yet another post where i’m not entirely sure what my point is, but i do feel like the questions i’ve asked are important. family and friends should matter and i feel more and more like they’re being pushed into the background and ignored.







Originally published at The Cat's Reflection