Can We Talk?

Tevin Campbell used to croon back in the ‘90s, “Can we talk for a minute?” Things were a little different then, but the singer was on to something. Human connection.
If we could slow down long enough to notice each other and actually speak, instead of hiding behind our mobile phones and laptops, we could actually talk and stop doing that thing we do when we pretend we’re connecting with one another. We would inevitably be able to relate to others and become a better society.
In a day and age where technology is king, it seems that having face-to-face conversations has almost ceased to exist. Our world is in trouble. We have become a society that is accessible 24/7, no matter what we are doing or where we are, and we rely on text, Facebook “wall” posts, e-mail and most recently and disturbingly Twitter to do it. Even with all that, we still are not communicating. Gone are the days where one set out to spend time with another. Don’t be mistaken: Modern technology is great, but there’s nothing like good old-fashioned human interaction.
With the introduction of these inventions into society, we have drifted farther and farther apart. Statistics have shown the lack of communication is one of the leading contributors to the high rates of divorce. The advancements have also proven to be a reason so many parents don’t know what the heck is going on with their children. No one is talking.
Someone can respond to a “How are you?” text with “I’m fine,” and because there’s no face-to-face interaction, the fact that their world is closing in on them is completely lost on you because eyes are the windows to the souls. There are no eyes in texts.
These creations may have made contacting each other easier, but are slowly creating nothing but cold strangers, no matter how much we text each other. Look out onto the street on any given afternoon and see how many people are looking up, engaged in the world around them. There won’t be that many. Most of them will be engrossed in the message they just received, forgetting that there is a breathing world right before them that does not need to be plugged in to work.