Someone tried to talk to me online last night. I was civil to that person, but at the same time it sort of felt like an invasion of my space. It felt almost like the same emotional response I feel when someone gets too physically close to me. Although I met my husband through the Internet, both of us believe that our real relationship started when we met in person. I am getting to where I hate talking to people online more than I hate talking to people on the phone.
While I was trying to learn more about writing, I learned that only seventeen percent of our communication is verbal, the rest is non-verbal cues: body language and the way the voice sounds. When people communicate online, they aren’t really communicating. All the non-verbal cues are gone. It’s less that one-quarter of what it should be. A good analogy would be if I were to talk to someone, but I only said every fourth word out loud. I doubt the other person would know what I was talking about.
The part that scares me and makes me sad is that the Internet is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our everyday lives. More people think online communication is normal and that it is an acceptable form of communication. It reminds me of the tower of Babel. A place where they can use the virtual world to build beyond anything physically possible in the real world. A place where all people of all nations and all languages can come together. A place where man’s pride will cause division and miscommunication among all tribes of men.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
