Talking Face-to-Face? What a Concept! (Updated post from 12/1/2015)

 

"Face-to-face interaction (less often, face-to-face communication or face-to-face discourse) is a concept in sociology, linguistics, media, and communication studies describing social interaction carried out without any mediating technology. Sociologist Erving Goffman in his classic 1959 book "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" defined face-to-face interaction as "the reciprocal influence of individuals upon one another's actions when in one another's immediate physical presence".

-- Wikipedia, "Face to Face Interaction"

A friend of mine posted the photograph, above, on her social media page.  The concept is a point I harp on constantly and, you guessed it, I'm going to beat the dead horse, again: Face-to-face communication.

Teenagers?  Oh, how we would love to put this ridicule on the young.  Unfortunately, you can witness the elderly wandering the streets or sitting in any restaurant with a tablet to their face or a "blue tooth" dripping from their ear. Losing the ability to communicate face-to-face is not a malady infecting just our youth.  It is a social grace that has been eroding away since Innocenzo Manzetti came up with the idea of the "speaking telegraph" in 1844.

All of my friends gave me grief over the fact that I still have a "flip" phone while they all had a tablet.  I carried my flip phone everywhere, and there was a reason for it.  I carry it at my mother's request so, in the event of an emergency, if anything were to happen to her, I can be reached.  That's it.  If I could do away with it, I would.  If I could do away with this tablet that fits in no pocket comfortably, I would.  If I need to make a phone call I'll go home.  If you try to reach out to me, leave a message, and I'll get back to you.  Meanwhile, I'll be trying to have a face-to-face conversations with friends.  

Let me be frank since I actually am, Frank, that is.  When I'm out and about, I am enjoying personal time.  I do not want you to call me.  If I wanted you to call me, I'd be at home waiting for your call or, better yet, talking to you face-to-face.  But, technology tugs at all of us.  Some of us, like me, kick and fight against it like a child at bedtime.  We don't want to go!  We are the Luddites of our day, railing against technology that changes our humanism, but using it, as we have to, in order to live and work in this technological time

Now, don't get me wrong, I love new technology.  I think technology has its place in making our lives easier.  I just think we need to temper our love of technology with the realization it has the ability to destroy what it means for us to be human.  We risk letting technology rule us, as in some science fiction movie.  We risk our fiction becoming our reality without waiting to learn the moral of the story.   The more we allow technology, the industry behind it, and our own lack of moderation, to control our lives, the more we risk being controlled by some greedy overlord.  We risk becoming the emotionless machines that we use, and some of us fear.

Unlike Prince, we need to re-learn how to party like it's 1995.  We need to keep technology in its place.  We need to learn to keep technology in our pockets when we're out in public, talking to real people.  The whole point of being out in public is to interact face-to-face with other people out in public.  This doesn't mean walking around with an earpiece, talking to yourself like some mindless simpleton or an elderly person with dementia.  I suppose the upside of this trend is that I don't have to communicate with dweebs that think it's more sheik to have a "hearing aid" than it is to pay attention to anything I have to say, God forbid.  Companies spend their time making hearing aids so they can't be seen, and young people can't wait to shove one in their ear so they fit in.  We have truly lost our minds.

Take the damned Blue Tooth out of your ear so we know when you're talking to us.  If someone ever causes an accident, injuring someone close to me, because they were on the phone or texting, they had better die in the accident because I will probably beat them to death with their own device when I see them.  I wish it amazed me that people, incapable of multitasking, get behind the wheel of a 4000-pound vehicle, speed it up to 65 mph, and proceed to do something other than drive.  Put your makeup on at home, finish your phone calls, finish your lunch, and beat the crap out of your significant relationship, prior to getting behind the wheel of a two-ton weapon of mass destruction. Just saying.

When you have dinner together at night or any meal for that matter, turn off the "boob tube" and the cell phones, take the tech out of your ear, and sit at the dinner table with plates, napkins, and silverware, you know, like civilized human beings.  Try talking with each other about plans for the day, or the day's events.  Exchange anecdotes that may have occurred.  Anecdotes?  Look it up, that's why you carry a computer in your back pocket, remember? 

I remember when a tablet was something you wrote on, you know, with a writing pen, not a stylus.  A pen was the writing implement that ink actually flowed from in order to make a mark, and a stylus was the needle on the phonograph that helped us hear music.  This was back in the day when you actually had to know how to spell, knew something about real history, do math... in your head, and, God forbid, talk to someone face-to-face.  

It won't be long before your significant other finds it more gratifying to make love to a machine, or artificial intelligence, like Gigolo Joe. Or... wait, are they already?

“The main thing to remember is that making love is at once the silliest and the most sacred act humans can perform.”

-- Patricia Briggs

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research.

Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony:  tolerantpastor@gmail.com