We lament a lot about the 'pace' of the world and how everything is speeding up with e-mails and texts and twitter, and so on. And I'm a staunch defender of modern technology; it lets me speak to my family halfway around the world, let me carry on a long-distance relationship for a couple of months with as little disruption as possible, and lets me find ways to put my thoughts into actions as quickly as I have thoughts.
Having said that, though, I am starting to come around to the idea that Google killed conversation. When was the last time that you had a discussion, an argument, a debate about some obscure topic and the question, almost as soon as it was raised, was responded with "Oh, let me google that!" -- and the answer provided in 60 seconds (105 seconds if you have a slow connection) ?
I'm pretty sure I did that yesterday, so I'm not trying to pretend that I'm not a culprit. And it's handy having the information at your fingertips -- there has been more than one occasion where I truly enjoyed shooting down my flatmate's stupid idea with a simple swipe of my fingers.
But having said that, recently the boyfriend and I have been 'doing brunch'. It's something we've started because we're both working, and I'm starting a new job that is quite honest about the crazy hours required, and it gives us 'alone' time where I'm not worried about whether or not the kitchen is clean on a Saturday morning.
So we brunch. And we've now got this unspoken rule that, if we are having brunch, the phones stay at home. And suddenly our world just sort of opened up to this long forgotten art of debate for debate's sake, rather than to answer a question. Verbally sparring is fun again, which I never realised I missed until I found it.
In conclusion: next time you head to dinner or whatever, ban the phones and see where it leads! Or tell me about what else google has ruined for you. Or what you think of the modern day conversation. Let's be honest -- even the vaguest link to this topic would work. Heh.