I remember when I first had access to a regular email account through school. Getting an email from a friend or family member brought the same gratification that getting a letter did back in the day.
Now email is like the junk mail that comes in your mailbox. Stuff to be sorted, recycled and moved out of the way to unclutter your life. It's become work.
Occasionally, I will get a nice newsy email from a friend giving me an update on how things are and we have a meaningful dialogue. Or my mother and I get a chance to chat uninterrupted. Those moments are rare though, and the thrill of the email seems to have gone away.
Now we're busy checking on statuses and twitter tweets and blogs, but are we making a connection?
I long sometimes to go back to pen and paper. Oh, the excitement of using your new writing paper set. Remember when you used to get multiple writing paper sets for your birthday? It didn't matter that you got a bunch, because you knew you would use them.
I think we're so busy skimming the surface, that we're not really connecting. Sure, I know my friend is heading out to take her kids to swimming lessons, but when was the last time I found out how things are beyond that?
I still like getting those superficial updates, but I try to resolve to make one connection each day. It may be a phone call to someone I haven't seen in a while, or sometimes even an old-fashioned letter. Either way, the more connected we can stay to each other, the more connected we can be to who we are.
