Technology - Leading the Decline of Conversation

I am an avid user of my cell phone and other ways of getting connected with my friends while I'm at school. I use social networking sites, texting, phone calls, e-mails, and instant messaging to get in contact and interact with my friends. Some people though, get so used to these forms of communication that they simply just can not talk to others through any other form. Talking has become a lost art in today's society and it needs to come back before we lose all personal human interaction.

People are losing touch with the rest of society through too many forms of communication and too much non personal contact with others. We are becoming to reliable on contacting others through technology and we are forgetting how to talk and the proper forms of communication in personal and social settings. Ever talk to someone who seems a little too nervous and does not know exactly what to say in a casual conversation, or they come up with an answer way too late? Of course you have and every one has.

One of the most valuable things we lose through using too much non personal conversations is the art of story telling. Ever sit down with a college aged person and listen to a great story? You could have but it is not very likely. Ever sit down with a member of the Greatest Generation and listen to a story? You most definitely have and it was probably a long and enthralling tale that left you with more information than before. They have the ability to tell great stories because the only form of communication they knew was vocal communication and letter writing. They became experts at how to tell stories and how to involve people in conversations.

So how can this be fixed? Is it even fixable? I believe it is and the only way to do so is to put down the technology and become more sociable. With every rule though, there is the exception and I'm certain there are younger people today who are excellent conversationalists, but the fact remains if we want a more personal relationship with the rest of the world, we have to put down the technology and use our voices.