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Communication Capacity and and Expectations

RadioShack desktop cassette recorder and two c...Image via Wikipedia
We're connected all the time.  The internet is usually within our reach, or in some cases our pocket, at all hours of the day.  When cellphones first became ubiquitous, it meant that everyone was reachable at any time.  But was that really the case, or was that our expectation?  When my cell became my only telephony device after I gave up my landline, I would purposefully silence my phone when I needed to "unplug."  It's just like when you are in a play or a movie theater -- sometimes it's healthier to be in a "do not disturb" mode than connected all the time.  Now that mobile web technology is practically ubiquitous, the various modes of communication conflate our expectations of always being connected: through chat, instant messenger, Facebook and other non-telephony comms.

Does anyone reminisce on the days when we had to leave messages on answering machines?  Recorded on cassette tapes??!!  There was something nice that happened in between the time it took go to get a message: you could sort your inbox and prioritize the messenger most important to you.  Most modern forms of electronic communication carry the expectation of immediate response -- keeping us more connected, but not necessarily helping us communicate better.  It's easy to forget that when we text or msg, the expression is so easily lost.

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