Technology and Lack of Communication

With all this fancy internet technology we have it is funny how there can be such a lack of communication. Whether it be in a business setting, or just between friends and family.

I mean how much faster and easier can it be to simply send or reply to an email, post an update, update Twitter, Facebook or what have you? Are we all so busy that we neglect to keep others informed? Or, are things just so fast-paced that we sometimes forget?

I don’t know how many times I have written to friends and family over the years without a single response. I have tried a decent four to six paragraph email. I tried keeping it short more along the lines of one paragraph. I even tried asking a questions. No matter how I go about it I rarely receive a response from friends and family anymore.

It is not like I was writing every day or anything annoying. I am talking about a single email in a one to three month period of time. Is it too much work to reply to something four to twelve times per year?

It got to the point where I stopped trying. It was almost like I was writing to myself. At least it wasn’t because I didn’t try.

I know everyone has their own life, families, and things going on, but come on. We have cell phones, email, Skype, instant messengers, Facebook, and much more. Most of which are totally free or extremely cheap to use, and only takes a few moments of our time.

Maybe things just change after all the years go by. I would like to think it would be much easier to stay in touch with today’s technology than what we had 15, 20, or more years ago.

I know that is just the way it is, but it is kind of sad when I think about it.

Contacting and communicating with a business can be a problem too. Most businesses provide some form or means of contacting them. It might be a simple email address, a support ticket system, Facebook, Twitter, or even a telephone number.

I prefer not to go the telephone number route if they are a large business or corporation. I am not that fond of the push 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 for something else type of thing. Wait 20 to 30 plus minutes for the run around.

I find contacting a business by email or support ticket system can vary considerably from one business to the next. Some are prompt and helpful, while others don’t even seem to read what I have written because I get a generic response that makes no sense at all. I am not sure why it is so difficult for some businesses to handle email and support tickets. If they don’t want to actually read them and follow up with a real response what is the point of even providing that method of contact? I am sure some of them do get tons of messages flooding in, but shouldn’t providing support or a means of contact part of their daily business routine?

I guess technology can be good when used and managed right. Maybe some day everyone will figure out how to accomplish that.