"We become tools of our tools"

Each new tool that is introduced into our world really does change us because as I said in the post before, they bring in a worldview, intentionally or unintentionally. Another quote from this book was from Thoreau: "We become tools of our tools" meaning that instead of us using the technology, in a sense the technology starts using us, and making huge demands on our time and our souls. And the scary thing is we often don't realize it. We just focus on the benefits, not on the debits and how these tools have had a detrimental effect on our human existence. Reading this book's got me thinking about this more, and here is what I think many of the detrimental affects have been on our human condition, specifically as it regards to communication:

Telephone: Made disruptive communication normative..with my new job I now know what's it's like for your day to be disrupted by a pushy, unwelcome sales person on the other end. We don't/didn't interrupt before as much in communication, but now it's acceptable and when the phone rings, I feel compelled to answer and give whoever is on the other end my time whether they are worthy or not.

Email: I believe email has taken disruptive communication to an unhealthy extreme. Because it pops into my inbox, and is there at the top, I'm compelled to stop what I'm doing and read, irrespective of worthiness...it can be a huge time suck and difficult to manage. Plus it's extremely difficult to communicate fully and clearly through this medium, most significantly because you can't be sure if your message is even received and understood.
Cell Phones - Disruptive too, but I think what they've taken from us is independence. We're never alone now and can always be reached or "connect" easily with those in our world via the touch of a few buttons.

In short, I think phones and email have been detrimenial to our souls because they have limited the actual connection and interaction of communication, specifically as it occurs face-to-face, and replaced it with a superficial even artificial connection. It's not just that communication changes in these mediums, but we change and our relationships change (weaken) as we communicate through these mediums instead of in person.

DVR: Just on TV, but it's given us the illusion that we can now pause and resume life when we want, when we have time to deal with it. I've found that I try to do that sometimes, whether with putting off something at work, or "pausing" a conversation with my wife (sorry babe..blame it on the DVR!)

Facebook: no true communication occurs there, we can catch up without catching up now. How many times have you seen someone around town that you haven't seen for awhile that you don't end up speaking to because you know what's going on in their lives because of facebook? True of twitter and others...turns out Social media isn't social at all!

Blogging: Writing for an audience vs. journaling and writing for yourself and thinking about what you're writing. It's too easy to be "published" for all to read..I fear I may be doing that now just to get this out there bc I've been brewing on this for a month.

Post thoughts if you've got 'em.