A communication on communication
Jun. 4th, 2009 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I received an email today which included, after the actual message, this signature:
Communications technology has proved a useful and potentially life-enhancing tool. Yet, if not attributed its proper value and used
under appropriate conditions, this technology induces anxiety in the user, fosters meaningless communication, undermines the quality of human interactions, and renders some of us unable to locate the silence and solitude essential to thinking and to spiritual well-being.
Recognizing these risks, C----- S----- has established necessary limits on her use of technology. Please be advised that she finds it impossible to:
* Respond to every email message she receives;
* Respond to email messages within the same day;
* Respond to any email messages on Saturday or Sunday;
* Answer the phone only because it is ringing;
* Answer the phone while she is already engaged in conversation with another human being;
* Promise a response to every phone call received.
These limits are intended not to frustrate communication but to deepen it.
I may steal that!
Communications technology has proved a useful and potentially life-enhancing tool. Yet, if not attributed its proper value and used
under appropriate conditions, this technology induces anxiety in the user, fosters meaningless communication, undermines the quality of human interactions, and renders some of us unable to locate the silence and solitude essential to thinking and to spiritual well-being.
Recognizing these risks, C----- S----- has established necessary limits on her use of technology. Please be advised that she finds it impossible to:
* Respond to every email message she receives;
* Respond to email messages within the same day;
* Respond to any email messages on Saturday or Sunday;
* Answer the phone only because it is ringing;
* Answer the phone while she is already engaged in conversation with another human being;
* Promise a response to every phone call received.
These limits are intended not to frustrate communication but to deepen it.
I may steal that!