Since returning from Swaziland I have renewed my commitment to stay in touch with people I met over there. I have also become desirous of strengthening my connections with people here in the States. So I have been thinking a lot about different ways to keep in touch, and today, I have decided to devote this blog to correspondence, 21st century style.
Letters and Cards
This is "old school" correspondence. Sometimes we call it "snail mail" because its slower. I hardly ever use this medium. I write support letters each year for the mission trip, and I pay the grasscutting bill each month to my landscaper. Occasionally I send a card to someone through the mail. Other than that, I really don't use the mail for correspondence.
Telephone
This is my favorite form of communication. I am a "talker" more than a "writer." Given the option, I'd always prefer a phone call. I can also call while driving thanks to the blue tooth hands-free option in my Jeep. How I love that! However, one problem with phone calls is that they are by nature always urgent. They have to be answered immediately and both parties must be available simultaneously.
SMS/Texting
It's convenient, it can be close to real time, but I find texting tedious. It is difficult to write a long message via even with T9 predictive text. The iPhone has made it better but I am keep deleting, especially when I type the letter "m." Also, iPhone autocorrect mistakes are legendary (no link for these, too many are naughty. You know what I'm talking about.)
This is my preferred form of written communication. I have (much to the consternation of my friends and family) tried many different accounts at various times. I started using Gmail when it was "by invitation only" -- sometime between 2004 and 2007 -- and I still use it today. Email allows both short and long messages, allows me to draft messages and send them later, allows me to store and keep messages and threads, and allows me to send and share photos. It's everything I want. But lots of people I know don't use it.
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I see its value in many ways, but I also find myself wasting a lot of time on FB. For example, do I really need to know what Marvel Super Villain I would be (answer: The Green Goblin) or which classic 80's action movie I am (answer: Die Hard, of course)?
I have found FB to be invaluable in promoting Swaziland Relief and in connecting with past and present team members, so I usually am most active on FB between May and August, just before and just after the annual trip.
I actually tried using Twitter this past year to send updates and reminders to my students. But I won't be continuing it this year. I just became "one more thing" to do, with questionable efficacy.
[addendum: I spoke to a colleague who uses Twitter regularly. I am going to ask her to promote my blog through her Twitter feed. I might be convinced of its worth.]
Linked-In
Like you, I have been invited to join Linked-In over a thousand times. This year when I got home from Swaziland, I finally joined (as many of you know, and as some of you regret. My apologies for the invitation "blast").
Linked-In seemed at first like a Facebook for grownups, with a goal of actually connecting people professionally. Then I joined, and it seemed like a fiendish plot to spam everyone I know with invitation emails. I got the latter under control, and the jury is still out as to the worth of the former.
Last year I started using WhatsApp because one of my good friends in Swaziland said it was the best way to contact him. At first I was skeptical, but then I checked into it and learned that WhatsApp was the fastest growing social media app and was much bigger than Facebook or Twitter in Europe and Africa.
Staying connected in the 21st Century
To keep up with his correspondence, Ben Franklin had to: 1) read letters and 2) write letters.
To keep up with my own correspondence, I have to: 1) read my email, 2) respond to my email, 3) read my text messages, 4) respond to my text messages, 5) log onto Facebook, 6) read my news feed and like or comment on stuff, 7) update my own status, 8) read messages, 9) reply to messages, 10) check Twitter (not planning to keep that up), 10) read my WhatsApp messages, 11) reply to WhatsApp messages, and of course 12) answer my phone or, if I don't 13) listen to my voicemail and 14) call people back.
Of course I probably missed something.
What we have saved in time with our technological methods of communication, we have lost by having so many different media to check. It is a lot of work; I have decided that people are worth the effort.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned video chat apps like Skype or Google+ Hangouts!
-Mdu
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