Mrs. Smith was a baby boomer who one day decided that she needed to learn how to use a computer. So one evening while watching TV, Mrs. Smith saw a commercial on a video system to teach her how to use a computer. The man in the advertisement looked trustworthy and even promised to refund her shipping fee if she wasn’t satisfied.
So Mrs. Smith got her new computer and the local big box store and brought it home to set it up. After 13 hours on the phone with the support technician, she learned how to turn it on.
Lo and behold, there was this really neat thing called AOL on her desktop that was her ticket to the World Wide Web. WOW. Now Mrs. Smith could go explore the whole world at her fingertips.
Not too long later, Mrs. Smith heard the sound “You got mail” – which was really, really neat. It just sounded so personal, like someone was paying attention to her. Just the sound of “You got mail” seemed to give her significance. Every time it sounded it boosted her important self esteem just a little more.
It was so neat that people all over the world were sending her offers for quick college degrees, body enlargements, and chat partners genuinely interested in getting to know her. Wow – this was so neat!
But what was the neatest thing of all was that if an email that was really funny, or really cute, or seemingly significant– Mrs. Smith could send it to someone special with just the click of a button.
And not only one person- she could send it to EVERYONE in her address book!
Wow- now EVERYONE could experience the same joyous, ecstatic, revelational moment that Mrs. Smith had with just the click of a button.
But not only that! Mrs. Smith learned how to forward surveys and petitions to everyone. So now all could see how civically conscious she was.
There was the petition to:
- stop the genocide in Rwanda
- impeach Bill Clinton
- hug your teacher
- establish a new national holiday to honor Baby Boomers
- stop an internet tax
- pass a anti-spam law
- let every congressman in the Northern Hemisphere know your thought on abortion
- promote world peace
- eradicate AIDS
- cure cancer
- and stop global warming
But what Mrs. Smith REALLY loved was this brand new invention called the electronic greeting card.
No longer did she have to go down to the gift shop and actually spend money to buy a greeting card, actually WRITE in it then go through the hassle of mailing it.
Now she could just put someone’s email address on it – and SHAZAM- it was all done. These electronic greeting cards were so neat because they actually moved and looked SO CUTE.
Then Mrs. Smith sent EVERYONE an electronic greeting card which let them know how much she cared.
Well time passed, and soon all of Mrs. Smith’s friends were getting emails every day with some joke, thought of the day, greeting card or petition.
But Mrs. Smith didn’t realize that many of her friends were ones who had been using computers beginning in grade school.
These non-Baby Boomer friends, were not enamored of the concept of email. For them, it was a normal form of communication that can easily be used and potentially misused. After all, they understood that since people use their email every day for business and pleasure it was a tool to be used prudently.
Soon the recipients realized that it was rare if ever that they got a real and personal message from Mrs. Smith. So they decided for the sake of keeping their INBOX clean, to simply relegate Mrs. Smiths email address to the spam catcher and she was never heard from again.
The end.
If it’s not worth putting a stamp on—it’s not worth emailing!
2 comments:
1. The writing of personal notes and cards is a lost art. Children should be required to use the old-fashioned method of communication for many reasons, among them:
a. They will learn how to address an envelope.
b. They will get to practice their writing. The message for the note or card should be written on scrap paper, the grammar, spelling and punctuation corrected by a parent, and then the child should put pen to paper on the actual note or card to be put in the mail.
2. Electronic greeting cards are permissible for use by adults on occasions that warrant them, for example:
a. When you want the card to be read with music playing. Reading a Thank You card while listening to The Chicken Dance will bring a smile to one's face.
b. When you are communicating with persons who are overseas. There are those in Tanzania doing mission work, and there are those in war zones. Mail delivery is often not the best in the world, and electronic greeting cards are a sure way of not only communicating, but communicating in a timely manner.
Good points all. However, the looping of the Chicken Dance may produce in me a strong desire to commit suicide with a thumbtack.
The main point, however, was that we have made it too easy to express care for one another in that emailing a thought requires such little effort. In comparrison, to walking two miles to deliver flowers, for example.
You are so right about the "lost art" - thanks for the note!
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