Communicative Overload

The world is changing rapidly. 20 years ago, the online world was only just beginning. There was next to nothing, really not much more than online forums, a few games. Only the very technical were online. Cell phones existed, but for the most part, they were rare, still large and bulky, and hadn't produced any changes in the world. The only ways of communicating were in person, by mail, and by phone. Of course, there were telegraphs still, short wave radio, and so on, but those were relatively minor, not really intruding into the lives of the average person. For someone to talk to someone else, it was one of those three methods.

10 years ago, the Internet had hit us in full force, there were IM clients on many computers, e-mail was taking hold as a major method of communication, smartphones were on the verge of being available with the development of the Palm Treo and the BlackBerry. They weren't mainstream yet, but cell phones were popping up everywhere.

Now we are truly in the age of total connection. Many people have smartphones. In Canada, approximately one third of cell phones are smart phones, and out of nearly 35 million people in Canada, close to 25 million have a cell phone. The United States, with approximately 314 million people, have over 100 million smartphone users out of approximately 234 million cell phone users. These numbers are based on early 2012. We have text messages, social media, video and audio conferencing online, instant messaging, e-mails, forums, blogs, and other means of communicating online, all of which are available through our computers or our smartphones. We can call and be called, and can be reached at any time because of our obsession with being always connected, always online, always available. In short, we think that we are never out of touch of the world around us.

I would suggest that all of this does not make it easier to communicate. Certainly it makes communication more possible and convenient than ever, but it does not really make us any more likely to communicate. The idea is possible, it has even been achieved, but it hasn't really accomplished anything. We have too much happening. If you spent all of your time focusing on communications and social media, it would not be enough time to keep up with every possible piece of communication sent more or less in your direction through social media. It's mostly just buzz. Overload. Irrelevant.

However, instead of recognizing that, most of us use it to soothe ourselves, make us think that we are more communicative, because we are a part of the community. We delude ourselves into thinking that because we have all of this information being sent our way, it combines into a meaningful social interaction. How pointless life can become. How dull, how lonely. I loved the Toyota's ads for the Venza, pointing out the difference between friends on social networking sites that you interact with daily, versus actually getting out there and experiencing something. I would disagree on the importance of their vehicle to make it happen, but life can be an adventure, and certainly it is more meaningful when shared with friends. Have we forgotten how to do that? Have we forgotten how to have meaningful social experiences? That is communication. That is the development of friendship. That, my friend, is life.