is technology a good thing? i would generally say yes, of course as i love computers and other tech stuff and i think most who know me would say i spend inordinate amounts of time mucking about with them. one argument from the tech. == good side of things is that it lets people communicate in ways they otherwise can’t, i.e. hearing from people across the ocean or across state lines and being able to keep a running dialogue that would just turn into a lapsed friendship otherwise. lately, i’ve been writing a lot more letters, and i’ve grown to enjoy it, but i feel like letters might look cool and be nice to look at and re-read from time to time, but they only work to be markers of an ongoing friendship and not the thing that preserves a distanced friendship. on the other hand i’ve been appreciating a digital communication between my friend patrick and i as we hardly ever see each other and don’t write letters but can carry on a conversation of sorts through e-mail and by reading each other’s weblogs have some sort of context for the e-mail dialogue.
so that’s all fine and good, but what happens when you find yourself using electronic communication to communicate with someone 8 blocks away? does technology cripple us and prevent us between saying things to each other directly, or does the anonymity and ambiguity of digital words let us say things that we otherwise wouldn’t be courageous enough to say? right now i can’t help but have erin tobey’s “i’ve been writing secret letters” song running through my head. i always thought it was a beautiful song, but now, it’s suddenly not only beautiful but excitingly and frighteningly relevent.
is the fact that you’ve discovered that you’re using technology to do the exact same thing as someone else endearing, or does it mean that both of you are somehow limited from doing what needs to be done or saying what needs to be said in the way that it needs to be said?