Monday, November 14, 2011

Is email a thing of the past?

Caution: This may get a little ranty.

So about a month ago I deactivated my facebook because I felt it was encouraging superficial and shallow relationships amongst other things. I decided that from now on, when I want to get in touch with someone I'd call them or write them a real email, one with substance and quality. And I have several friends with whom I correspond using real mail also, so that's great. But I'm not much of a phone-caller. Unless it's a to the point phone call to establish some meeting or verify information I find phone calls a little awkward and they tend to make my ears get irritated. There's a few people I make the effort for and I really ought to try more on this, but really a letter or a real life hang out are better for me.

Sometimes, though, hanging out in real life is not possible and most people I know wouldn't have the time or self discipline to really have a snail-mail correspondence, so I don't expect it of them. Instead, I'll use email. Right? It's quick to type up something and sooooo easy. Everyone checks their email every day! Some people check it multiple times, supposedly.  I mean...I probably check mine at least 3 times a week and maybe even a little more since I don't have a facebook account anymore. So this should be a great way to keep in touch, right? In the past few weeks I've thought of several people I wanted to re-establish relationships with or just thought I'd send them a nice email to stay in touch....

 And not a single one has responded...

I understand that whole "I am so happy to get an email from this person and I want to respond but I don't have time right now, so I will later..." And then forgetting until a couple days later... But this has been a few weeks now. It makes me wonder. Does anyone even check their email anymore? Maybe I've sent these emails and no one has even seen them because they only look at their facebooks... Could it be? Is email a thing of the past?

Maybe in order to actually keep in touch with people I'll need to reactivate my facebook. I shudder to think of it. Facebook is a tool that can be used properly or improperly. Unfortunately, since everyone is connected you are subjugated to everyone's views on how it should be used. If one person feels that their facebook is the place where you badmouth your friends even though you'd never say anything of the sort to their face or if they think it's where they hold their family feud, yes their family and friends see it, but so do I. And I kinda don't want to. If someone feels that facebook is where you express your dislike of all your self-portraits (you know, the kind where you obviously just snapped some random nasty photo of yourself to immediately upload  for everyone in the world to see), then I have to see that person's self-loathing too, even though I disagree.

In my personal opinion *insert pompous attitude here*, facebook should not be the place where you air your life's problems and how much you hate the world, or tell people how great your boobs look or even update everyone on the humdrum moments of every minute of your life. You wouldn't include stuff like that in a phone call or email, would you? My facebook friends pool was small. I limited it to 42 people and a large margin of that number were family. Immediate family, even. And yet, since I had to see what their friends were saying, I felt like I was being informed of everything ever, and some of it I didn't want to know. Plus, seeing strange boys outrageously flirt with my sisters and then claiming no they weren't flirting, they just wanted my sister to know she had super hot legs, was really irritating. And I also didn't want to see all those hot prima-donna photos my little sisters were posting for all kinds of weirdos to see. It's still happening, but at least I'm not seeing it. And don't even get me started about...right, nevermind. Should not be aired on the internet, right? Just, the amount of people I deleted because friends of their friends of friends and so on and so forth were just nasty and creepy.

So I feel like I'm suddenly out of the loop. I do have this blog so those of my real fans (lol) can still see what I'm up to (when I actually post.) But since no one ever comments to tell me what they think or how they've been doing...(excuse me while I stop to cry *sob, sob.*)  I don't really know what anyone else is up to. Except the people I really keep in touch with, i.e my family, whom I call occasionally, and the people I see on a regular basis. And the four people I write real-mail letters to, of course (You guys are awesome, I love you!)

So how about it everyone? Let's just go back to simple ol' email! And while you're at it, write me back!

dislcaimer: I am not targeting anyone specifically with this rant (with the exception of Priscilla. You shouldn't be posting such hot photos of your self for all kinds of weirdos to see!). If, however you get guilt-tripped into writing me an email all the better! Heck, even a comment on my blog would cheer me up.

5 comments:

  1. The buzz in libraries (which are super techy you know) is that email is indeed, a thing of the past. Recent past, yes, but still. My colleagues and I joke (sadly) that the best way to communicate with our kids is to Facebook them. Yes, even when residing under the same roof! Further, that Facebook is also moving out for the more preferable online chat (can't speak from personal experience, since I gave up chat many generations of chat ago). Texting is still hot though.

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  2. But about your blog...
    Great blog! I really like your refashion projects. Made me resurrect the idea of my refashion projects, which I needed to immediately suppress until December. Have you seen: http://www.auntpeaches.com/2010/11/friday-flowers-making-sweater-felt-in.html for felted sweater flowers, http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorialruffle-shirt.html for ruffle T shirt (many gorgeous variations)? As for my delayed baking endeavors, there's http://bakingbites.com/2011/01/samoas-scones/ just to mention for a start?
    Sigh. Not enough time in the day. I plan by week. Or month. I also just(ok, post-Halloween)pick up some funny skull socks on the cheap to make a sock monkey with, but that too will have to wait until December!

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  3. I love you, my only fan who comments! And all these interests of yours coming out of the woodwork! I knew you liked baking (and samoas scones, yum.) but then I find out you're all into Nanowrimo and you refashion too!? Soooo awesome!!!!
    I hear ya on all the "I will not do this until December" stuff. I have 3 letters I need to respond to and feel like I really shouldn't until after December or 50,000 words (whichever comes first.) I have several refashioning things I need to get to, but next month! And that ruffle shirt is gorgeous! Don't know much about felting but have been feeling a tug in that direction for a bit.

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  4. I email quite frequently! Although my emails are usually information based. But with gmail I also chat. So I am on my email all the time mostly chatting but also emailing. on my computer you can find facebook and gmail open almost all the time. Not to sound like an ad for gmail, but it also has a lot of other features that keep me emailing, such as connections to the blogs i follow telling me when one has had an update. ok, I'm done being on my soapbox of how great gmail is.

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  5. Yay! Another comment for my collection. Thanks Sarah! I'm thinking gmail might be an upgrade of my old yahoo account, but switching emails can be a pain. Who knows, though, maybe one day I'll take the leap...

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