Talk To Me

My mother is the type of super-woman who wrangles Christmas letters every year, a gargantuan task that I cannot even contemplate. For years, I've looked forward to reading the quirky, unique things she decides to incorporate into her cards.  Every Christmas, I also enjoy reading about the lives of various friends and relatives, and exclaiming over pictures where the children always seem to be at least 5 years older than I think they can possibly be.

My mom and I had a discussion the other day about this particular mode of communication.  She mentioned that her mother, in turn, always jokes about friends who send her Christmas letters, since she says "why would I need this, I know everything that's happened in their lives because we write to each other all year!"  My nana engages in such detailed and frequent written communication that she has stayed in contact with friends over almost seven decades.  But my parents' generation lost the art of letter-writing.  They turned more to occasional phone calls and the yearly letters to keep up with the turning of seasons.

In my generation, even the Christmas letter has fallen by the wayside.  And it's because forms of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter (even MySpace, if anyone uses it any more?) have kept us in such close awareness of each others' lives.  Should we ever think: "I wonder what so-and-so has been up to lately", an instant update is available at our fingertips, in way more intimate detail than we could ever need.  For instance, I'm thinking of some recent statuses proclaiming the extent of cervical dilation ladies are experiencing as they enter the labor process.  I mean, come on, what's next, a live video feed? NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW THAT.

Sometimes, though, the amount of closeness we achieve via the Internet inhibits us from practicing true relationships.  I know exactly what my best friend from high school was thinking last night as she watched that movie, but I don't truly know how she felt.  I know the public broadcast version of everyone's days, thoughts and dreams, and yet the secrets and depths to the actual person I am friends with are lost.  I am betrayed into laziness by the false reality of a virtual friendship, and more extensive communication seems more effort than it is worth.  And even the minuscule effort I make  (i.e. turning my search engine to a profile...) seems Herculean in comparison to actually dialing a number.

As a whole, people make the same New Year's resolutions year after year: drink less, stop smoking, lose weight, laugh more. This year, in particular, I have heard a lot of people saying they are going to make more of an effort to spend time with their family and friends, try being with them a little more frequently.  I made a similar resolution, but to simply be more involved with the day-to-day realities of my loved ones' lives.

Even if it means I have to write a letter to my Nana.