Monday, September 5, 2011

Gratitude Monday-- Phoning It In

I'm grateful for the telephone.
Sure, we have many ways to have a conversation these days. Many of them are terrific.
The downside is with Internet chat or email we don't hear voices, tones, inflections. It's too easy to misinterpret a comment.

Phoning is almost mouth to mouth and ear to ear. It's like an intimate conversation though there's no face to face contact. But we can hear a voice and know the sarcasm from the sincerity.
It's as close to personal contact as we may be able to have, and that counts for a lot.


11 comments:

carla said...

I need to embrace the phone more.

these days I avoid the phone :)

Leah J. Utas said...

I totally get that, Carla. There are calls best left unanswered.

the Bag Lady said...

I used to love talking on the phone, but nowadays, use it rarely. You're right, though, it does give one a better sense of the tone of the comment that you don't always get with internet chats.

Leah J. Utas said...

Bag Lady, we don't get that many calls, but I still find them a more immediate, personal communication than writing my conversations.

Tabor said...

I avoid the phone too much. Do not know why, but would rather see someone than talk to them by machine.

messymimi said...

Sometimes nothing beats a good, long chat over the phone to find out what's really going on in someone's life.

Leah J. Utas said...

Tabor, I understand. But when you can't get there in person, the phone works.

Messymimi, it's one of the best ways to get someone's real story.

Hilary said...

As the old Bell ads used to say.. "it's the next best thing to being there." I suppose Skype is one up on that, now.

Leah J. Utas said...

Hilary, I don't Skype so I don't know, but you're probably right.

Reb said...

I do remember the long distance phone bills. They pale in comparison to the great conversations though.

Dawn said...

I MISS the phone!
Everyone seems to send off a text, email, twitter....
What happened to real "connected~ness"?