Remember when it was exciting to check your postal mailbox? You would surely find some golden nugget piece of mail in there at least once a week, if not more. And remember when you actually received e-mail messages from people that you know? And if there was a message in your home phone mailbox—or the phone rang—someone you knew was on the other end? It happens so scarcely now that I hardly check my postal mailbox—maybe every week to ten days; I never listen to my home phone messages—and I never answer the home phone because the caller ID shows an unknown number; and all I do is delete messages in my four e-mail inboxes. Anymore, all these mailboxes contain is JUNK. And all the home phone calls I receive are from solicitors…or they’re wrong numbers.
It’s pathetic. Why do I even have a postal mailbox, why do I still keep a telephone landline, and why do I even check my e-mail? The legitimate communication I receive these days comes in two ways: my mobile phone—via text messages—and Facebook. I tried getting off of Facebook, but no one could—or would—get a hold of me after that. They wouldn’t even e-mail me. I had to get back on. And about the only person who even “calls” my mobile phone anymore is my husband. And if there is a phone message on my mobile phone, it takes me a while to notice that it’s even there, because why in the world would someone actually call me, let alone respond to my call and subsequent phone message?
We live in a very strange communication world. With all of our technology, I think that it’s “harder” to communicate than it used to be. Wait, let me restate that: It’s harder to communicate “properly.”
Update, 2023: I’ve decided that I am going to start writing and mailing notes to family and friends: thank you notes, get well notes, just because notes. I am going to do my part to make going to the mailbox exciting again.
