Telephone Lines

@p1kef1sh (45681)
March 15, 2011 4:30pm CST
Not that many years ago if we wanted to communicate with the World we had to write a letter. Reacing its destination might take weeks. Today we just press a button and our thoughts pop up in the inbox of people thousands of miles away in seconds. I sometimes think that all this speed has made us forget how important it is for humans to relax. Some might say that the internet is their relaxation; but have we got it right. Do we balance our lives properly or are we moving too fast?
5 people like this
22 responses
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
16 Mar 11
And isn't it sad that with all this ease of communication, we are still not close to understanding ourselves or one another? That takes reflection, and you are correct in your saying we forget how to relax.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
I was forced to relax by ill health. But now that I am a little better I find myself zooming again. Crazy and needless.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
I've always been quite good at laughing at me!! Well everybody else does....
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
16 Mar 11
and we forget how to laugh at OURSELVES.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Mar 11
Moving too fast not nearly as much of an issue as internet addiction - being able to make myself stop and get off of here and do something else!
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
15 Mar 11
Are you an addict Dawn? Admitting that is the first step to recovery.
2 people like this
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Mar 11
touche
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
21 Mar 11
I've been here most of the day and I'm just about to have a lie down.,..surely that means that I'm ok?
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 11
P1ke, that is the world today, rush rush rush, work work work, no one takes time out any more, it seems Life is just about that now I remember a time when no shops where open on a Sunday, bank holidays, BOXING DAY When People used to get their breaks at work When People used to relax and lay back on a Sunday once they have done a few bits and the Dinner in the Oven and so much more but now, well it is not that any more at all
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
Those WERE the days Gabs. Yet I am as big a sinner as anybody else. I shop on a sunday etc etc.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Mar 11
hi pikey my roomie this morning said "You just really love that thing, meaning my computer, to stay on so long.I would be bored." this from a person who ten minutes later will say no I never said that,. She is in the midst of Alzheimer so its hard to know what to believe and not believe.I really do not get bored on the net but now i am pretty addicted to it.Yet I feel over the years workng hard now its my turn to enjoy what I do enjoy.Mylot never bores me as I tried to explain to Kathy ,it is always different.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
17 Mar 11
I think that if the Internet is used simply as a form of entertainment then that is fine. My concern is that from a general perspective, especially work, we find ourselves rushing to meet artificial deadlines that simply induce stress .
@neildc (17239)
• Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines
17 Mar 11
for some, internet is their relaxation, but not to everybody. it's not a relaxation for me too. life is moving really so fast now, p1key.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
17 Mar 11
For all it's usefulness technology has become a form of stress now Neil.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
16 Mar 11
I think we are moving too fast. Yes, relaxing on the computer is what I do a lot, but sometimes I just need to take a break from the office and the computer and get out into nature. Today is one of those days. It is 1pm, I have all my work done for the day, so I am going out or a bike ride in the state forest.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
Enjoy the ride Bill. Don't fall off!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
16 Mar 11
Got back a couple of hours ago. No crashes today, but almost though as I took a wrong turn and ended up going down a trail that would best be described as a dry waterfall. Very steep with large rocks. I walked the rest of the way down that one!
@SViswan (12051)
• India
15 Apr 11
Though I'm not that old...but I remember the time when we had to BOOK a trunk call to call a different country. When I was much younger and I lived in Kuwait, we couldn't pick up the phone and make a call to India ....for one...there were no long distance calls and two....most homes in India didn't have a phone. We had to write looong letters and would receive looong letters from friends and family. We made penpals with other children in different parts of the world. Now, we can chat with multiple strangers over the virtual web. Yes, I do feel sometimes that things are going too fast and we don't stop to think...let alone relax.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Apr 11
As a boy I can recall being encouraged at school to write to pen pals. These days, if such things still exist, I am sure that they are surrounded by nervousness about child abuse etc! Life was much simpler then. But it didn't seem so at the time. We had to make trunk calls too and many older people refused to have a phone in the house! My grandmother never did understand how to use it properly. She would shout into the microphone part! LOL. She was born in 1890 and whilst she saw many wonderful things in her lifetime; she never quite got to grips with technology preferring books and her art.
• Canada
17 Mar 11
I am someone who has visual and mobility issues, so advanced technology is wonderful for me, a wonderful way for me to do what I want to do, at the same rate as everyone else does it. As long as people still employ their brains, then we are doing alright. If technology allows us to become mindless, then it's moving too fast.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
17 Mar 11
I think that there is no doubt that there are many advantages to technology in modern life. But it has its downside too. Instant communication often creates an expectation of an instant response. We are always expected to be contactable and it is harder to shake the world off and slow down at times.
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
15 Mar 11
You have a point, of f1shy one! I find that I do get stressed by a full inbox and every so often, I'll just mass delete the whole thing! I sometimes just want to veg and play games and not worry if one of my friends is going to get upset because I didn't respond to their discussion!
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
21 Mar 11
I delete many but I still look at them all. I answer the ones I want to. It's why I'm so far behind. I'm catching up now though...only 5 days late, not 7 like before.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
15 Mar 11
If I worried about not responding to every friend's discussion I'd permanently be posting under "Anxiety" LOL.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I think we're moving way to fast. We give ourselves no time to think, relax or play anymore. Take kids, for instance...we take them to their baseball game and let them play but then we hurry them away for another activity. Same with adults--go out to a concert or somewhere else but hurry home afterward because you got a call from the office of you want to see a show on TV. We're multitasking all the time! I remember how it was to write a letter. I'd sit down with pretty stationery and a nice pen and think about what I wanted to say. What I'd done during the week, all the special things that happened, how to make the person smile or laugh. It took at least a good 15 minutes or half hour to write a decent letter, thinking about what had gone on in your life and reviewing everything. Many times it inspired you to think of something you could have done better. And you thought about that other person that you were writing to with thoughts of love and affection. Email is great but I still like sending letters. And I love receiving cards and letters--so nice to get something besides bills and junk in the mailbox outside my door!
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
I still send letters and cards - but it comes in phases. Mostly the postie brings bills. But sometimes there's a little card there too. Bliss.
@GreenMoo (11834)
16 Mar 11
I'm not the person to ask about this! I could rant and rave for ages on this subject No, the majority of us don't balance our lives properly. That's the short answer! The trouble is that we don't use the time we've saved from the use of technology to do anything else, we just fill it with more of the same.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
Very true. I have five raspberry canes soaking in a bucket. I wouldn't mind a button to push to plant them! LOL.
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I still enjoy writing letters once in a while and I prefer to pick up the phone and call someone over sending an email or trying to chat on-line, but, I am a very busy person and there are a lot of times when I communicate with my family through texting rather than talking. Yes, I feel that many of us lead an unbalanced life, and I am one of those people. I am constantly bust doing this or that and often times forget that I need time to stop and smell the flowers as well. It has gotten to the point that even when I am sitting idle trying to enjoy a movie, I find myself thinking that there are other things I should and could be doing at the same time. I think that if we were to slow down, many of us would feel as if are being unproductive with our time because so many other things have begun taking precedence in our lives.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
There is more than a grain of truth in what you say. Sometimes I find myself almost rushing to do the simplest of things so that I don't "waste" time! Daft boy that I am.
@surekharathi (14146)
• India
16 Mar 11
Ya I agree with you but no fully because although press a button and our thought reach in the inbox of our friends and family members still now in some small town no net facility are there but post and mobile facility are there so we cant send e-mail. So there letter or mob is must.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
Yes. Thank you.
@macayadann (1235)
• Philippines
16 Mar 11
I am already 50 and as I see the past compared to now,it is really so amazing that the intelligence of the people out of all their curiosities keep on improving technologies but we should not forget that they still owe it to the awkward situation of the past because it is from there that their objectives came from.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
We should not dismiss the past as all bad. There is much to learn from those days,
• Philippines
17 Mar 11
Actually,the past is the strong foundation of what is built today.Today is the answer of the why and how of the past as we move to the modernization of our civilization.
@suehan1 (4344)
• Australia
16 Mar 11
Sometimes I think we are moving to fast and not taking time out to really relax, like go out for a walk and get away from the computer. I am sure our lives are unbalanced as some days I have t be on the computer for hours and other days I really can't stand to look at it. I feel sorry for the poor old post office, they must be losing heaps of money without people buying stamps, but then again they have people posting e-bay goodies, so they are probably making money through that.Cheers Sue
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
There never seems not to be a queue at our post office Sue. But there are certainly fewer of them.
@jazel_juan (15747)
• Philippines
16 Mar 11
I thought the same, i used to believe being online can do relaxation for me, but with all the stress and the stress going online always brought me, i realized i was wrong. At times we do need a break from all these technologies and be part of nature. Nature, being with these simple things bring different relaxation.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
We are part of nature and should get out and appreciate it more.
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
15 Mar 11
If we turned off all of our electronics, would we be happier? Maybe, but then there'd be a baby boom in about 9 months...
@p1kef1sh (45681)
15 Mar 11
Not in this house since the Boss lost her bits. But it might be fun remembering old times......
@dheckerz (473)
• Philippines
16 Mar 11
Two things Technology and constant change. I'm glad these things were invented and developed but sometimes it can also be a cause of our problems and stress.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
Most certainly. I think that we need to cherish our building blocks and not lose sight of the purposes for which technology was developed.
@kukueye (1759)
• Malaysia
16 Mar 11
Many technology now are used to communicate with people around the world like many social application like msnn skype and others , video voice or text can be used to communicate for each other hence using land line telephone is almost obsolete , how many places the internet still runs on dail up or broadband line using copper base telephone line .
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
There are many parts of the world that still do not have any Internet connections and so dial up had it's place until they can access broadband.
@katie0 (5203)
• Japan
16 Mar 11
What would we do without the phone? We thought, but now the deal is with computers and cellphones, I think many would feel missing an arm! lol
@p1kef1sh (45681)
16 Mar 11
I think ghat you are right. People seem to have to be in communication all the time these days.