The art of blogging is my way to stay connected and share ideas which I find informative and interesting as well as a way to tell my stories. Sometimes I am not always sure what I will write. I have a folder stuffed with articles I have found interesting and hope to use as part of my blog content.
                     I am particularly interested in communication since time began as well as current affairs, and changes within individual families and how family life has changed over the years before the industrial revolution. These topics are repeated over and over in my blog because I find we need to stay connected to what is important and quite often those are values which have been eroded over time. Of course, this is only my opinion, but my beliefs are deep rooted.
                     Recently I read an article in AARP, dated March/April 2010, written by David Dudley. He is the editor of Urbanite Magazine out of Baltimore. The magazine was in a doctor’s office but I delighted in the very beginning…”We tweet, we text, we e-mail. Everybody’s chatting, but is anybody listening? Why America needs to revive the vanishing art of conversation. We need to talk.”
 He begins his story in the park with his little daughter and as she is talking away, he is answering an e-mail, somewhat out of touch with what she is talking about. He looked up to notice others connected to their iPods, and blackberries. He had a moment of realization.
                     The article mentioned Daniel Menaker (editor of New Yorker and Random House), who writes about  conversation in his book, “A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation” He says he is worried because he feels that people today may feel obligated to be available in a public space, such as the many social networking online sites. It seems to me that email may be no longer enough. Menaker feels that we may become a country of overly connected hermits. I think Menaker makes a valid point.
Thinking about my own email, it usually consists of comments from Facebook. Whenever our extended family does get together, the younger teens are often unavailable for conversation if they are connected to their technology.
                     The article also mentions a psychiatrist from Harvard, Richard Schwartz, who co-authored with his wife a book entitled , “The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century”. Simultaneous Connection and Isolation are what our lives are about these days. He told of a patient asking if they could do a counseling session over the telephone.
                     According to Menaker, the golden age of conversation was in the pre-industrial era. Ideas came about because dialogue was exchanged. It was a civil society. Menaker spoke of his feelings that there will be a loss of humane regard as digital technology is on the rise. People can post anonymously and write what they wish , oftentimes with no regard to another person’s feelings.
                     Jacqueline Leo, former editor in chief of Readers Digest, writes in her book, “Seven: the number for Happiness, Love and Success”, about the distractions of digital media and the loss of the art of listening. She thinks that because we are addicted to the technology because of our conceit, that we cannot put it down. Technology gives us a feeling of importance.
                     All in all, I must say I am going to try to be more conscious of how I spend my time, but not before I post this to my Facebook. Then I am going to see if I can join Facebook anonymous because I know that I am not the only one!