On Speaking Terms

Tie up the 'phone' lines? They don't do that
anymore. Telecommunications have been
revolutionizing teens' compulsive behaviour;
the dire need to 'keep in touch', not to miss
out on instant information, playing the
'What's up?' game to remain involved and
cool, else what meaning is there in life? It's
the who that you know and the what that
accompanies it that explains the why you know.

And anyone of adult vintage who enquires
of the whyfores is beyond redemption, a sad
relic of the dim, unfortunately disadvantaged past.
Then, people spoke to one another in audible,
emotive, reflective tones expressing the purpose
of communication. The evolution of progressive
humankind as a communicating species has
advanced to the unspoken, yet remotely
effective use of text, as in text messaging.

Where nimble thumbwork provides the medium
for the incessant messaging and the tiny, perfect
communication devices of electronic perfection
gift their users with a cornucopia of choices,
from photography to music, videos to anarchic
devolution. There are no tasks which cannot
be complemented by attention devoted to an
unending stream of incoming calls, all requiring
the instant protocol of informed and blithe response.

From the bedroom to the classroom, the bathroom
to the lunch counter, shopping excursions to
dinner with the family; at a cottage, in a sailboat,
none too remote but that instant messaging
need be interrupted. An entirely new way of
life, a life-force has been re-engineered and the
blissful 'contact' sport engaged in a celebration
of this brave new information-contact world.