I sometimes wonder whether technology is a good thing, or not. Now I realize that this may come as a shock to most of you. Especially given my well renowned enthusiasm for ’shiny’ stuff and habit of spending a vast proportion of my earnings on gadgets, DVD’s, CD’s etc. But that’s not necessarily the sort of technology that I am referring to.

It is beyond doubt that many of the technological advances we make help to save lives and to improve the quality of life for people all around the world and it’s not that which I criticize. It’s more the MSN, text messaging, E-Coms end of the spectrum.

My concern is that while these things mean that we are constantly in touch with people, 24/7, I wonder whether in some ways their use actually runs the risk of pushing us apart. We constantly talk, via these media, but do they prohibit us from actually sitting down and talking to each other properly? I suspect that in some ways we are actually closer to the people that we don’t see as often and whom we don’t have this sort of constant electronic contact. I say this, because I suspect that when we do see these people we actually talk to them. We actually tell them what we are feeling and what it going on in our lives. It is all too easy to remain safe behind the emotionless exterior of electronic comms, where people can’t see our expression, or read our eyes. We can say that everything is ok and they will never hear the slight tremor in our voice, or the tear behind our eye. Leaving us free to build up barriers so that when we do meet up and talk, it’s all about TV, sport, or what’s happening in the world, rather than about what is troubling us.

Now before you all start to worry about my current emotional state, believe me when I say that everything is pretty peachy at the moment. I just wonder how much we actually know about each other at the moment and how much we rely upon the world of digital comms to both protect ourselves from the world and to protect ourselves from having to actually deal with our own issues and those of other people. I sometimes feel that all too often these days we hear close friends say “I don’t know what’s up with him/her”, when if we were taking a little more time to talk to each other properly, face to face, then that should never be the case.

I’m not about to stop using MSN, or to stop sending text messages, nor am I about to turn all our trips to the pub into some sort of group therapy sessions. I neither think that it’s necessary, nor think it’s the solution. I think that often getting out and just enjoying ourselves and being around people can be enough to help us through the harder times. I guess all that I hope is that if anyone who is reading this, especially those of you who I am lucky enough to call friends, feels like they need to talk sometime, that they know that that’s what friends are for.

I’m reminded of a quote from Stephen Hawking, that most of you will know from Pink Floyd’s “Keep Talking” –

“For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals.

Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination.

We learned to talk”

Perhaps the ultimate irony of all this, is that I have used the medium of a Blog to discuss it!!

Stay groovy all.

DGxx