A Manifesto for Slow Communication - John Freeman - WSJ.com - 3 views
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How many of our most joyful memories have been created in front of a screen?
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Communicating at great haste hones our utterances down to instincts and impulses that until now have been held back or channeled more carefully.
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Our cafes, post offices, parks, cinemas, town centers, main streets and community meeting halls have suffered as a result of this development.
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The difference between typing an email and writing a letter or memo out by hand is akin to walking on concrete versus strolling on grass.
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A butcher can tell you which cuts of meat are the freshest; an online grocer may not. That same butcher, if he is good, might not just remember your preferences—which an online retailer can do frighteningly well—but ask you how your mother has been doing, whether you caught the latest football game. These interactions remind us that we are more than consumers; they remind us that we are part of the world in a way no amount of online shopping ever will.
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If we spend our evening online trading short messages over Facebook with friends thousands of miles away rather than going to our local pub or park with a friend, we are effectively withdrawing from the people we could turn to for solace, humor and friendship, not to mention the places we could go to do this. We trade the complicated reality of friendship for its vacuum-packed idea.