My Grey World » Don’t Write. Talk.

Don’t Write. Talk.

I started writing this entry around 1 month ago and forgot to finish it.

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button some days ago (it was a midnight movie). I intended to write this after watching the movie but I was too tired.

Anyway, this is not a review of the movie. If you want to read reviews, there are tons of blogs or websites out there.

In one of the scene, Benjamin Button visited his sweetheart to New York. She just finished dancing, and he approached her in the backstage. Anyway, in that particular scene, I saw vintage looking telephones behind Benjamin. On it was a sticker that said “Don’t write. Talk”.

Remember that the scene was set in 1940s, when telephones just started to be used widely (more information : timeline of telephone).

I was just thinking how ironic it is now. People that time were desperate to get in touch. Before telephone, people can only send mails and perhaps some greeting cards. Even before that, messages can be only delivered by couriers, and it took days, weeks, even months to reach.

Think about the situation now. Telephone became passe and internet came along. Soon enough everyone is using it as the primary communication tool. Why do we need to punch in numbers when a double click can start us to talk?

And we communicate basically on writing. We use emoticons sometimes to aid in expressing emotions (and that’s why they’re called emoticons no?), but, you know, it’s still just writing.

And with this writing misunderstandings occur. People say you’re flaming, but you’ll say you didn’t, and people shouldn’t infer anything from written things.

I think it’s just ironic. When people have finally invented a device to let use hear and even see each other despite great distance, we chose to retreat behind written words. Yet again.

Are we going backwards in evolution?

Perhaps in near future, even words won’t even be needed anymore. Perhaps we’ll use sign languages to communicate. Perhaps later language is not important anymore, since we can so-called read minds to know what people are thinking and we don’t need to voice out our opinions.

4 Responses to “Don’t Write. Talk.”

Walter on March 31st, 2009

Interesting point. I haven’t watched the movie yet and it looks like I really should.

I think that the art of talking and having a decent conversation – whether over the phone or face to face – is being lost in this age. In Singapore, i see people huddled behind their laptops all the time, even in cafes amongst their friends! Here in Melbourne, things seem to be different as people still do believe in a decent conversation. I don’t see many laptops being opened at cafes, even though wifi is freely available.

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Aaron Peng on March 31st, 2009

Its the electronic age.
People is like a stream of water, we tend to take the path with the least resistance.
Double clicking is easy, and when we’re doing that, we can talk to many people at a time…
Not to mention it completely reduces the awkward silences sometimes.

We are living in the electronic age, and that’s just one of the things that we’re taking for granted.

The bad part is that because of the lack of face-to-face communication, our EQ goes down when we do decide to go out.

Part and parcel of life.
As long as you know how to strike a balance, everything is good.

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Sylvia Giacinta on April 10th, 2009

Walter : the movie doesn’t have anything to do with what I write, it’s just because I saw that sticker on one scene. Haha. Well, perhaps that we’re being accustomed to it plays a part.

Aaron : wow, you sound like you can make your own blogpost from that.

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Hillary on April 18th, 2009

I enjoy both written and oral communication. I enjoy listening to the boyf’s voice over the phone however I process information better when it is emailed.

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