Are We Losing The Human Touch in Communication?

Undoubtedly, we have seen this evolution in technology that have seemed to bring more convenience, more efficiency and more reliability in the way we handle our daily tasks. From school work to professional work, computers are ubiquitous in their role as a task manager.

Gone were the good old days where handwritten mails are used to send regards, messages, postcards to people from another part of the globe. Nowadays, a few clicks on the computer mouse do the trick. And your mail gets delivered almost instantaneously, except it’s not handwritten.

We see how the advent of technology creep in, when feathered ink pens are replaced by typewriters, which have a new successor, the electronic “pen” – computer keyboard. The early writers spent their time writing under a burning oil lamp, with feathered pens and ink bottles. Zoom in to our generation now, writers spend most of their time writing – or rather typing – behind a personal computer or notebook.

While I used to try keeping a personal diary, I had trouble keeping up with the updates. Since it requires a mundane action of getting the book out and penning down my thoughts(when I think I have certainly written enough in school). Who could resist the temptation of the modern diary - blogging? You blog whenever and wherever you want. And you can still be surfing on facebook or tweeting simultaneously.

Face it. Snail-mailing is so passe. Who has the patience to sit down and write a piece of letter and mail it out in hope that it can be delivered within the shortest period of time, when all you need is a few minutes to type out a letter and send it instantly without any hassle? Surely, in the hectic societies we are living in, we opt for convenience and efficiency more right?

I remember when I first started out writing to penpals, it was through contacts in magazines – of other penpals who posted their addresses and seek like-minded individuals to write to. I got to know this Korean girl whom we wrote to each other regularly. I remembered how excited I was waiting for her letters to arrive at my mailbox each week. And I remembered her sending me a box of “Hello-Kitty” crayons for a particular Christmas.

My friendship with that Korean girl crept to a halt eventually when both of us got carried away by other commitments. And then, with the inception of the trend of personal computers – Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 then – I turned to penpal websites. And the “friendships” with the penpals I made did not even last as long as that with the Korean girl whom I painstakingly put in that effort to write to each week. And then I missed the scent of the paper she would use. I missed her handwritten words – albeit not pretty, but sincere.

In a rapidly changing world where technology is taking centre stage, are we losing that human “touch” in terms of communication? Are we compromising on our relationships because we spend more time behind the flatter-by-the-day computer screen?

Have we forgotten about the diaries we kept away in our cupboards? Have we forgotten how to write from our hearts?

One thing I know. I miss the act of penning a piece of letter, folding it into halves, slotting it into an envelope, and posting it into the mailbox.