I want to chat a bit about the lost forms of communication. Do you remember the days when nobody had a cell phone? Back then I knew people’s phone numbers. Now I’m lucky if I remember my own number without checking my phone. Now it’s difficult to get people on the phone. Have you ever had someone text you and you try to call right back them because it’s just too much to text but they don’t answer. That’s odd because they just text you, right? So they obviously have their phone. Then they text you back to see what you wanted. Actually talking to another person directly has become too much trouble.

Do you remember when you would send people cards for their birthdays or holidays? Some people still do this but most people send out an ecard and keep it moving. When was the last time you wrote a letter? (Gasp!! I know. You forgot you could do that, didn’t you?) When I was a teenager my friends and I would write to each other all the time. Of course, I got letters from my boyfriend and wrote to him all the time. But that was before you could run home and jump on the computer for a chat. My kids laugh at me because I have a nickname for Facebook. I call it FaceCrack, because people get addicted after just one use.

Don’t get me wrong, I love today’s world of technology. I need my smart phone and don’t even think about taking away my laptop. But some days I wish my kids had grown up in the world where we played ball in the street. I wish they knew what playing hide and seek in the dark after the fireflies came out was like. I remember the days of getting up to change the channel on the TV because there was no remote. They had to drag me in the house for meals because I was too busy running the streets with my friends to care about eating.

I guess my point is that I worry about our kids and today’s society in general due to the lack of person to person interaction. You can go to the bank machine, check yourself out in the grocery store, and communicate with the world at large without actually talking to anyone. We are losing our social skills. (But we have our social networking skills down to a science.)

I encourage you to practice the lost art of none computerized communication. Send a card to a friend or family member. Give your bestie a call instead of texting or posting on their wall. Write a letter to someone that will appreciate the fact that you took the time to actually pen them a note. I hope that maybe if we make an effort to remember these small things from time to time we will maintain our human connections. You don’t get a redo in life. I hope when I leave this world people will remember me. Not just my profile pic and my screen name.