The real purpose of communication technologies

Nowadays, it is really easy to keep you from talking to me.

If I don't want to talk to you, but at the same time don't want to ruin the relationship by appearing to not want to talk to you because someday I might want to talk to you for some reason, all I have to do is send an email, leave a voicemail, or write text messages shortened and abbreviated beyond recognition. This is made possible only recently in the information age.

Prior to the information age, avoiding one another without appearing so is much more difficult. One have to rely on lies such as "Ah, the carrier pigeon must have gotten lost," or "I phoned but you weren't home this morning." Of course, these lies are risky: your friend may very well have been home the same time you allegedly called but didn't, and, as we all know, carrier pigeons have that magnet thingin in their heads.

After the invention of answer machine, all one really needs to do to avoid someone without burning the bridge is to leave a voicemail saying something like "Oh man, I missed you again! I know we've been playing phone tag but we must connect! I hope everything is fine and great with you and I'll chat with you later!" You can even use this to give the impression that you are REALLY trying by calling multiple times a day, say once before 7am and another time during lunch hours.

This practice was thwarted briefly by caller ID, but thanks to text messaging and email, we can now achieve the same without arousing suspicion. Information technology gives us means to show that we care without the bother, which brings us closer together.

But of course, the above does not apply to me. If you get an email or whatnot from me, naturally it means that I care. If you get a postcard, or a carrier pigeon cooing on your windowsill, I guess that means I love you.