I lived off the grid recently, for eight whole days. I was on a raft trip on a river in a remote place. There was no communication with the outside world; no phone, no radio. Smoke signals, maybe, but that’s it. The only other people we’d be able to talk to were the ones right there, up close and in person. I jumped at the chance to join such a trip since, for one thing, I’m weird like that.
For the first few days of the journey, my companions and I – there were 28 of us – were well distracted by other things, but as we settled into the trip, there were more and more comments about it being pretty nice to be out of touch, out in nowhere. More specifically, how pleasant it felt to be unburdened by what we admitted were the insistent demands of our phones, to not be compelled to respond to their every whim.
Yes, it was freeing not to feel obligated to take part in the incessant cacophony of what I call the “low-grade communication” that most of us are awash in.
When the trip was over and we were about to reenter civilization, there were more than a few murmurs of “I dread turning on my phone.” Maybe they were just joking, but wow. It made me think.
I realized that much of the communication that we engage in is of the aforementioned low-grade variety. Perhaps humans aren’t made for that. Perhaps that chatter does us more harm than good.
Unarguably, text messaging is a practical and handy tool for conveying simple messages. I love it and, like most people, I use it all the time. Unfortunately, we seem to increasingly use it for unnecessary blather or, worse, we press it into service for the exchange of information and emotion that would be far better suited to other forms of communication.
Let’s review some basic concepts about human communication, as I see it. The most effective form is, without a doubt, the spoken word, in person, face-to-face variety. With that, you get the words but also the bonus nuances of inflection, volume, cadence, emphasis, facial expression, body language, and more. You get not just what is said but how it’s said. It’s hard to imagine a better way of conveying information.
Face-to-face communication is also full-commitment, full-vulnerability in character, and that might be why we shy away from it sometimes when we can. And now it’s easier than ever to shy away from it.
We get cell phones into the hands of younger and younger kids all the time. Giving in to their clamoring for the devices with “in case of emergency” justification. To cover up our inability, haha, to say “uh. no.” Perhaps we should delay burdening our kids with phones as long as we can. At least until they can communicate well, the old-fashioned way
Instant across-town or around-the-world communication, the at-your-fingertips-phone variety has some fine points for sure. But it being so easy to impulsively engage in contact is not without its hazards. I think back on when I was a teenager, and I’m thankful that I was forced, due to the technology being the old dial phone on the kitchen wall, to consider more carefully what I was about to possibly rashly say.
I like that there are locales on the planet still out of reach of the digital net. Even if I never go to such a place again, it pleases me to know they still exist.
As I write, though, soon there will be no place on earth without phone and internet coverage, “thanks” to an increasing network of communication satellites. I think something of the mystic and magic of time and distance will be lost with such a technological “gain.”
In the meantime, can we please keep old-fashioned face-to-face and voice conversations alive? Let’s never forget the beauty of such high-grade contact.
