The Loss of 'Incidental' Conversation
One more way that the advance of technology has isolated us
Posted Jul 10, 04:46 am in experiences, social networking
I haven’t really spoken to my girlfriend’s father in a while, though I used to talk to him with some regularity. The reason for this is because we no longer have a landline. He would never ask to speak with me on the phone; instead, we would have ‘incidental’ conversations that stemmed from the fact that I just happened to pick up the landline phone when he was trying to reach his daughter.
Without these incidental conversations, I hardly ever get the chance to talk to him, unless I happen to see him in person, which is rare.
I wonder how the lack of these conversations will affect our social relationships. Now in-laws may have less of an excuse or opportunity to dialogue with their sons- or daughters-in-law. You may not get to talking to a friend’s roommate because they don’t pick up the house phone that no longer exists. Parents can’t screen their kids’ calls anymore, and keep their daughters away from Johnny, the neighborhood badboy.
Sometimes there are unexpected side effects of any technological phenomena, and these have a way of changing our lives in manners that weren’t really intended— sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The way I see it, we’ve incurred collateral damage from the advances that have all but eradicated landlines, and have made cell phones the centerpieces of our telephonic communications.
Perhaps it is just another way that the advance of technology has, contrary to popular thought, isolated us from others and kept us from developing meaningful relationships with the people around us.