Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Twitter and Facebook are turning people into inconsiderate jerks and they don’t even know it.
The advent of e-mail and instant messaging made it extremely easy to keep in touch with people. So at first, that’s what we did. We constantly e-mailed people, and even talked to strangers via instant messaging. As time went on, that phased out. We stopped feeling the need to be in constant personal contact with people, and waited to reply to e-mails, if at all.
Eventually, we got Facebook, which was supposed to make it even easier to keep in touch by broadcasting your own thoughts.Now I’m afraid that we’re at the point that it matters less about what people want to say to you and more about what you want to say to others. How do I know this? The reply rate to friendly personal messages has plummeted. The number of ‘Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you – I’ve been busy’ e-mails have skyrocketed (if any reply is sent at all) while those very same people Tweet and Facebook what they’re having for breakfast 20 times a day.
These people weren’t always like this – the technology allows them to be more narcissistic. They feel they’re being communicative by telling everyone what they’re doing, because what’s more important than what you have to say?
Seems that e-mail is about to be a thing of the past – who needs that when whoever matters to you can follow you on Twitter? Meanwhile, when an old friend comes along to give a friendly, personal hello, it’s met with confusion, if not completely ignored.
That’s where we’re headed.