A long, long, time ago in a galaxy far, far away, people communicated by talking. They would sit down face to face, or at a quilting circle, and talk. This thing called “verbalizing” or “speaking” was popular for a while. After all, the only thing it required was words. Eventually, people worked out the whole postal system thing, but for the most part, speaking was still big.

  However, people began to like writing to each other more than speaking to each other. Whether it’s because the things that are said in love letters would seem cheesier than hell if spoken aloud or because it’s easier to give bad news when not looking someone directly in eye, the world may never know.

Eventually, people felt that waiting three days for a letter was too slow. They began to look toward the computer as a way of keeping in contact. Thus the phrase “you’ve got mail” was born, as people e-mailed everything imaginable. E-mails were sent back and forth all day long about nothing and everything. It was more of a way to cure boredom at work and feel that they were getting their money’s worth for their internet bills at home than actually keeping communication lines open with friends and family.

Soon all the non-stop e-mailing led society to harder things like chat rooms, then instant messaging, then blogs. This downward spiral finally ended with the good people who make cell phones saying, “Hey, just because you buy a phone doesn’t mean you have to talk to people,” and inventing text messaging, defeating the whole purpose of having a cell phone.

What does it say about society when verbal communication stops? Folks no longer feel compelled to talk out their problems one-on-one, but would rather post them on MySpace or LiveJournal (usually making the problem worse) and involve their entire friends list. Why call a person on your overpriced cell phone when you can text them and include an emoticon?

How many people are more comfortable blogging their concerns about their relationships for all to see than talking to the other person in the relationship? Everyone knows that nothing will get resolved this way, but they figure they should post it anyway. Nowadays everyone’s an aspiring blogger, and their lives are entertaining enough to be the main subject.

Instead of telling someone how we feel vocally, we e-mail, text, or post on Facebook, ruining the intimacy of it and often times telling everyone but the one person who needs to know how much we care. We make ourselves vulnerable to everyone who has computer access, but can’t verbalize those same feelings to the one person who inspired them.

No one actually speaks to anyone anymore. In the computer age, the best friends anyone can have have buttons and the ability to reach groups of people at once. Human contact is being kept at a minimum due to laziness on society’s part. No one wants to get off their butt and walk a get-well card two doors down when they can send an e-card with a song.

Even dating is left up to the World Wide Web through places like match.com, whose tag line is "Someone you can love is nearby." Why would you go out on a blind date set up by a computer program that says you’re compatible with someone you’ve never met? People are setting up profiles without even batting an eye at the fact that they found these people on the internet, while students are breaking up with each other because of Facebook and Myspace.

We at Spectrum understand the desire to express oneself with pen and paper. The temptation to deal with certain colleagues, friends, and family members via computer is not lost on us. However, relying too heavily on your blog to get your point across is a bad idea. Some things are just better said in person. Try talking to the people in your life, ignore the convenience of technology for awhile, and see if your relationships don’t improve.

And if they don't, then :(, and *hugs* for you.

Tell us what you think. Write Spectrum at editor@mcckc.edu.