No communication is better than bad communication…

…. But … Let’s talk!

I hate the formal pleasantries in general discussions but sometimes I feel the hunger for a conversation. Interaction. Communication. Being in touch beyond the customary “How are you? All good?”..you know what I am saying..

And I notice it every time... How a face to face conversation with a friend is nicer than one on the phone. How a phone conversation is nicer than a text. How a chat on Gtalk is nicer than one on Twitter…you get the drift?

I have finally come to terms with the fact that Facebook, for instance is NOT a place to “keep in touch” with friends. It’s a social network, best to share interesting links with people from all walks of life. Seeing someone’s vacation pictures and liking someone’s status updates is NOT being friends. Being in touch means so much more. If we stopped making the effort of picking up the phone and actually talking, how much do we know really?

When I have a meaning-less conversation with someone who was a friend ages ago, and I feel the hollowness of awkward silences, I find myself wanting to restrict the “relationship” to facebook. No conversation, in some cases, is better than bad conversation. So I think it’s best to remember in my head that we “were” friends, and have moved on since.

With the internet, our medium of communication is getting, hmm -- which is the least offensive way to say this -- less human?

Like do you see, reading a blog by a stranger can tell you so much about them rather than following them on Twitter, for example?

Don’t get me wrong, I use all these mediums very actively. But what I notice is, even with superficial interaction with strangers, one always wants to go beyond. Talk to someone on Twitter, get comfortable, and meet. Add them on Face book and let them have a glimpse of your “real” life. Looking for friends, the whole time. Isn’t that ironic? What about the ones those who already are your friends ?

I’ll tell you how I want to do it. If a friend is “sad”, even if I get to know of it through FB, I’d rather do better if I pick up the phone to ask what happened. Why are they feeling the way they are. How can I help?

All I am trying to say is, lives will get busier. They always do. But the beauty of human interaction is getting lost somewhere. The more connected we seem on the outside, the less we actually are.

And that is why, whenever a real life friend says “Oh I read your blog and saw your FB posts, so I know what’s happening with you”, I know I am sad inside.

I have always believed that if something is important enough, one would make time for it. Same goes for people. If they are important enough, you will find time for them. You must.

So many people I know, have a million followers on Twitter, a celebrity-like status and loads of contacts admiring you on FB, but really, on a lonely night when you need someone to hear you out, when you really need a friend, you’d find yourself alone, or worse, glued to a computer screen, putting up encrypted statuses because you can’t say what you really need to, but you still want to say it. 

If that isn’t sad, what is?