PostSecret.com

Through another person's blog I found this Web site called PostSecret.com. People make postcards and write their secret on it and send it to this person back east. A book or two have been published with these "secrets" being the topic of discussion.

I have been pondering this morning about CMC and FtF communication as we have been discussing it in my class. One of my classmates brought up that she had gotten in to an argument with her son via text message the other day. I thought how interesting that was that he would confront his mother through a form of technology rather than facing up to what was bothering him face-to-face.

Have we really digressed so far in our communication that we have failed to learn how to deal with things in person? This is one of the reasons I refuse to get into an argument via text message, through e-mail, or via IM. There is no inflection of voice, no body language, no eye-to-eye contact.

How is it that we have let technology take over our lives to the point that we have sacrificed important knowledge about communication? Niel Postman in his article Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change argues that technology gives and technology takes away. We will always sacrifice something in the wake of change.

"Perhaps the best way I can express this idea is to say that the question, "What will a new technology do?" is no more important than the question, "What will a new technology undo?" Indeed, the latter question is more important, precisely because it is asked so infrequently... In fact, if it were up to me, I would forbid anyone from talking about the new information technologies unless the person can demonstrate that he or she knows something about the social and psychic effects of the alphabet, the mechanical clock, the printing press, and telegraphy. In other words, knows something about the costs of great technologies."

Some gain, some lose, a few remain the same. What has technology done for you? What has it undone for you? Is it a benefit, or a hinderance in your life?