Commune-ication

Hello.

I say that for two reasons.  One: to be cordial and acknowledge your presence, as is proper according to Emily Post.  And two: to somewhat hyperbolistically declare my amazement at that one word.  Not really by the word itself, but more so how it's being conveyed: on the Internet.  (Which spell check just told me to capitalize.  I suppose it's proper, as in: I'm going to vacation in Internet for a while.  Way easier to get to than Europe, but less exciting.) 

It's a hologram.  Futuristic communication from "a long time ago..."?

Communication - much like technology, Pokémon, and society in general - has greatly evolved over the past few decades.  We went quite a time between the invention of the telephone and the first mobile phone, or "car phone" if you will - I still remember when they were called that for a reason.  I'm sure there were some steps and variations between landlines and cellulars, but they are negligible compared to the sheer number of changes and features that cell phones have undergone themselves in just the past 10 years.  Texting, cameras, touchscreen, internet access - the list goes on, but I'm too lazy to actually do any research on it.

Think about it.  First, the telephone enabled us to speak to one another over great distances in real time.  That was followed by the cell phone, adding portability to the equation.  Next came text messaging - a great way to send short messages when talking wasn't an option.  Then it seemed texting took over.  I'd be willing to bet that for (cell) phone usage, texts outweigh talking minutes by a good bit.  (I'm actually worried that the teenagers of today are going to forget how to use their voice and propel us into a weird, dystopic future of mute communication.  Commutecation.)  They've even tried to make texting easier: adding text-to-voice or voice-to-text features, allowing the phone to translate your words into a message, or read a message aloud.  Who knows, maybe one day we could bypass that text-encryption step and just have one voice speaking directly to another in real time.  Oh wait...

And that's just telephones, not even to mention the internet.  But this isn't a post about the history of communication.  More like a blurb about the future of it.

I'm reminded of a Nick Swardson bit about video games becoming more and more realistic, such that in a few years, to play a video game, you'll just go to your friend's house and actually physically fight him.  Can't get much more realistic than that.

And that suggests a good point about communication of the future.  I think it's possible probable that as technology such as the telephone, internet, holograms, devices-that-haven't-yet-been-invented and etc all coalesce, our communications of the (distant?) future - if we haven't blown ourselves up by then - will essentially be an in-person, face-to-face, physical interaction.  Even when you can't actually be in-person and face-to-face.  Think about the paradox of communication: over the years as it has advanced, it has simultaneously distanced us from each and yet brought us closer together.  We let ourselves drift farther and farther apart - both spatially and temporally - because we know that communications technology can reconnect us in an instant.

As time goes on and technology advances while the population increases or expands (space colonization?), we will be more separate-yet-together than ever before.  Will we have communication?  No, I say we will have commune-ication.  Communication so advanced that it essentially nullifies the significance of any type of distance we have between us.


[On a more serious note, please do not text and drive.  It is rather dangerous to both you and the Innocents on the road.  In fact, I propose a new social protocol.  Much like taking someone's keys when they show up to an alcohol party (as all the cool kids call it), I recommend we take someone's cell phone if they send more than 50 texts at a party within any given hour.  I wouldn't trust them on the drive home with it.]