All gone

Until we need to remember that is

I am talking about communications before cell or mobile phones

We have already got so used to our mobile phones that when we forget them or leave them at home we can feel quite lost or frustrated

Frustrated that we do not have the ability to talk to whoever we want at that exact moment

Irritated as we look around for another phone

Borrow one from whoever we happen to be with

Being able to talk to whoever we want whenever we want is a double edged sword as we all know

Not wanting to communicate with someone means now we have invented new excuses

Not wanting to receive communications from someone we have invented other excuses

In just a few short years our personal communications have changed

Moved to a new level of immediacy

Some are slaves to these new devices

Others disciplined to turn them off when they want to

And all of us with very few exceptions have one or more now

Probably more of us have mobile phones than have computers per se

Now we see people sitting together in restaurants both talking on their mobile phones, and not to each other for sure

People walking along the streets totally engrossed in their mobile phone conversations

Texting on buses

And so the list goes on and why not?

Mobile or cell phones offer the freedom to do many things

A thought though if people become so engrossed in their mobile phones what else changes?

We are changing our communications, have already as a result of them

What next?

Started with the sound bites of TV when we got used to shallow abbreviations of communications about events or situations

As time went on we got used to news items being 30 seconds and a few segments of film thrown in

Then along came our mobile phones and we started doing the same with our texting, abbreviating everything down to the minimum possible

Then along came twitter and many have gone to an even shallower level

So we all type better or more frequently than we did before all this came along

We learnt to abbreviate

And in so doing become shallower

Moving with great speed through our days communicating more frequently

And more shallowly

Where to next?

Is this making everyone move to a different level of life as well as communications?

Always hurrying

No time, just texting

Telephone calls, no time to meet

Meeting then texting while with each other

Talking on the phone to others while with each other

Mmmmm!