How E-mail Has Changed Us
Have you ever thought about the subtle ways in which e-mail, chat, and texting have changed our lives? In some ways, it can actually bring us closer. Here’s an example.
I have a friend who has no e-mail. Well, she has work e-mail but her school district is very strict and they promise to fire her if she uses it for personal use. So she may have e-mail, but I can’t use it to contact her. Don’t even know what it is. And in today’s world, we’re all busy. Seems like making a phone call doesn’t always work well.
In early October, this friend, Cathy, told me about a Fiber Artist display at a local gallery. She suggested I go and especially look at an item on display titled “Self Image”. I looked up the gallery and found that the display would be there through October 31st. I carried a piece of paper around for more than 3 weeks with the address on it.
Alas, October was an incredibly busy month. I often passed by the freeway exit that would take me to the gallery and said - “I need to do that, just a few days left.” Finally, it was October 31st and things had eased up just a tad. I decided I would go. I didn’t have tons of time, but wanted to find “Self Image”. Cathy had told me it would be well worth going just to see that.
As luck would have it, the gallery didn’t put things on their web site quite accurately. They said the Fiber Artists’ work would be there through the 31st, but they really meant the 30th. So when I got there, the gallery was much in disarray. They were taking down the displays. I told an employee what I was there to see and she pointed me to it. It was still on display.
And Cathy was right, it was well worth the trouble. The correct title is “Self Imagined.” It was a statue, if you will, made out of white fabric. I suppose you would say it was nude, although there were not body features at all - just the form. To put it nicely, she had a voluptuous figure. She was seated in a position much like “The Thinker”. On her back was a zipper. The zipper was open and coming out of the back zipper was another figure. She was made of a red fabric, was slender and appeared to be dancing.
And I saw Cathy’s point and the piece’s meaning. It was well worth having gone there to see it. I left right away.
Had it been any friend other than Cathy, I would have shot her an email as soon as I got home to tell her about my experience. I suppose I could have called her cell phone and left a voice mail (I knew she was working) but it wouldn’t have been the same.
Thinking about this made me realize the subtle ways that our communication has changed. There’s an immediacy to being able to shoot an email to someone. Sometimes it wouldn’t be something you would call about. Yet you can send an email without feeling intrusive. I think we all know each other a little better b/c of it.
As for Cathy, I thought that I would tell her about the incident the next time I saw her. But I forgot. I may just have to print out this post and give it to her the next time I see her. A lot of people would criticize her for not having a computer and email. But I figure it’s her decision to make. Geek that I am, I respect the non-geek’s right to be computer free.
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