Chapter 51: Letters to words to sentences to meaning

if anyone has ever spent 10 minutes with me, they know that i am a rather prolific texter. spurred from my love of the written language and my parents incessant need to use up all of our shared minutes, i'm one of those people for whom the cell phone has become another appendage, one that's never too far from my fingers. at any one time, i could be having a multitude of conversations, all while checking email or watching tv.

i've also noticed, however, that i am more inclined to type out a message rather than actually call a person and tell them the message. is this wrong? i've heard a lot of people say that this can be a really impersonal way of communicating with others since i'm apparently avoiding personal contact. but this, to me, is personal. knowing that my medium of choice is the written word and this is the best way for me to communicate, shouldn't someone be flattered that my fingers flew about the keyboard as the t9 frantically assigned all the words i demanded of it, just to tell someone a message from my heart?

i guess people fear that with the advancement of technology and science, we'll lose our humanity. that we'll settle for interfacing rather than communicating, or cyber-anthings instead of touch. especially with advent of multi player worlds where avatars become someone and the physical human never has to leave his home, i can see why people would fear this.

but i look at it as a godsend. when i'm lying in bed at 3 in the morning, wishing that someone was near me, don't i reach for my phone to text them a simple "i love you"? and when that person wakes up in the morning and checks his phone, he'll see that i was thinking of him at that time and simply could not wait until dawn to give him that message.

and what about all those friends i've made in college who have been flung to the far reaches of the world? gchat and aim help me to know that they're doing well, loving their new job, and met a fabulous person they're going to have coffee with next week at a time when i'll be sound asleep on this part of the world.

this anti-social medium has turned me into a much more social person. what seems impersonal is, in fact, what keeps things personal in my life.