How Technology Has Changed How We Communicate

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How often have you sent an urgent text and impatiently waited for a reply? Texting etiquette says we should respond within a few hours at most – assuming we didn’t (gasp) forget our phone at home.

Technology has changed the way we communicate, from the speed of communication to the quality of communication. Gone are the days when recent news became old because it took time to send a letter. We often assume the person we want to communicate with has an email account, mobile, or both.

Technology has impacted how we communicate with family, friends, and coworkers. Let’s look at some examples of how much we’ve come to rely on tech to communicate with others.

Messages, Email, and Apps

How often do you say, “I’ll text you the info?” or “I’ll send you an email?”

Only one generation ago, sending letters and Christmas cards by post was still trendy. The cost of a stamp was much less than what it is today, and all you had to do was wait a few days to a week for your letter to reach the recipient.

It also wasn’t that long ago when we used dial-up – that horrid screech on the telephone line – to surf the net. You couldn’t get online privately either – first, you had to tell everyone in the household not to pick up the phone!

These days, a long letter can be sent overseas by email in minutes and read by the recipient on their phone.

You can send a voice or text message by any number of options: SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Instagram, Discord, Messenger, and many more.

We also have many new social issues that we didn’t have more than a decade ago. Back then, we could “chicken out” and slam the phone when the answering machine clicked on, and we weren’t sure what to say.

These days, it’s the psychological impact of the Read Receipt. If the other party has read your message but doesn’t reply, does it mean you’re not important, or they don’t care to reply? If you sent the message hours ago, but they didn’t open it, should you send another message in case the message was lost in cyberspace?

And if you want to get with the times, what do you do if your email or message was opened days ago and you were ghosted?

These days, we expect a response immediately, within an hour, or at least within twenty-four hours if it’s not urgent. After all, we can answer a question and send information instantaneously.

We can even video chat a loved one while on a business trip or vacation to another country. Distance and time zones aren’t an issue anymore.

Communication at Work

Technology has closed the physical distance between people, work, and talent.

Previously, you needed a system to keep track of the most recent version of a document. If employee A creates a file and sends it to two others for review, how could employee C and B coordinate feedback?

With technology like Google Docs, many people from different offices in different cities can work on the same document without worrying about keeping track of which version is the most recent. It also introduces a whole new level of strategy.

For example, it’s a little more challenging to tell your coworkers that you’re working on the document if you’re not showing as active in the file. It’s also a bit nerve-wracking if you’re writing a sentence and you know someone else is, in a sense, looking over your shoulder.

Fun moments can arise, such as when I was working on a document and a cursor appeared. A coworker started to type a note addressed to me in the middle of a paragraph. The note was just to say Hello, how are you doing? Then he deleted the sentence.

The upside of having files in a cloud, of course, is not worrying about what happens if your computer crashes or you need to access the file and keep working from another computer. You have a lot more flexibility.

The ability to share files has changed the speed of communication. You can save your file and open it again to share in the board room without having to lug around your computer or a USB drive.

If your talent is not writing or typing, you can record your meeting and have it transcribed into notes afterward. You can also use an app to correct your grammar and spelling. Then a click of a mouse can correct a mistake or rewrite an entire sentence in a second.

Robot Editors

With grammar check options and apps such as Grammarly and Hemmingway, one could say that we no longer need writing lessons. We can ask AI such as ChatGPT to finish our writing assignments using perfect grammar. Professional editors may also be out of a job one day because of AI.

That “one day” won’t be for a while yet, so human editors will still be around. Even if you’re not thinking of hiring a professional editor, you still need to be your own word expert.

Our smartphones aren’t yet smart enough to be fully trusted with our messages. Autocorrect can create some awkward situations, depending on what word your phone thinks you had in mind. Voice dictation can produce funny results too. I’ve studied some puzzling messages from a manager who said apologetically, “Siri likes to mess with me.”

Grammar correction options in word processing or email programs are both good and bad. I’m grateful when I can’t remember if an obscure word is spelled with one “r” or two, and I can play around with letters until the program likes what I type.

It’s also helpful if you’ve had a long day and your editing program kicks in so that you realize you just typed, “I’ll see you at the the meeting.”

If you can’t remember grammar and punctuation rules, these grammar programs are great. If you’re an editor or a writer with strong grammar, technology can be annoying. You can find yourself fighting with a program that says your sentence is incorrect when your sentence is perfectly fine. You just have to know your grammar rules.

Living Language

Where will we be in the future? Will AI take over the job of professional writers? Will AI be a substitute for professional editors? The discussion is here now, yet the future is hard to predict. Any language, including English, is a living language. Professional editors’ forums debate the spelling of a word or a writing style. What wasn’t acceptable three years ago could become correct in five years.

What we consider conventional or unconventional ways of writing may change ten years from today. Will technology be able to keep up with all the changes and adaptations and write as well as the most talented human? We’ll see.

Key Takeaways

Technology has impacted the speed and convenience of communication. The day has already arrived when we can ask AI to write our emails for us. Yet we can still have our fun with autocorrect and grammar check.

What’s your opinion on the influence of technology on communication? Leave your comment below.

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What If Books Were Free?

What if books were free? I admit, I would like a free book about a topic I’m only mildly interested in. It’s much easier to get a free copy of a book these days. You can press download, and viola! you have a free ebook to enjoy.

Here’s another perspective. An author can spend months or years to write a book. That’s hundreds and thousands of hours put into a piece of writing.

Recently, an author was horrified to find her book could be downloaded for free on a website. She asked for help to prevent this from happening.

Imagine working for thousands of hours for no pay. I know the feeling. I’ve worked as a book editor with authors who spend two years on a book and don’t finish it. I’ve also worked with authors who patiently work through several drafts, rewriting the same chapters until perfection.

It’s horrifying to see thousands of hours of hard work given away for nothing. What would you do if you came across a free book?

And on another note for book lovers, I’ll leave you with this handy guide for buying books.

image credit: bethanyfiction.com

Are You Feeling Lost?

Have you ever walked into a room and realized you don’t know why you’re there? Then you walked back out to retrace your steps and recover your memory from ten seconds ago. It happens sometimes.

It can happen anywhere. You can be at the store and not remember what brought you to that aisle.

You can be at work, distracted by a message, and find yourself sitting at your desk, fingers hovering over your keyboard while you try to recall what you were supposed to be working on.

Maybe it’s time for a break. Happy Friday. Happy weekend. Happy whatever occasion you want to celebrate.

Image credit: source unknown.

What Was the Last Thing You Searched for Online?

Imagine being arrested for an innocent online search. Sometimes, I wonder if that’s what will happen to me. I often find myself searching for some really oddball stuff. It makes me the target of advertising for products I will never buy. It also makes me want to constantly delete my browser search history in case I go missing and my friends and family look there for clues, only to begin questioning my life choices. Yes, this is the life of a writer and editor.

I found this question, “What was the last thing you searched for online?” as one of the daily writing prompts, and I was compelled to answer it. Here’s why.

  • A coworker was searching for eye protection, such as safety glasses, when her keywords (eye protection? eye glasses? something to do with eyes?) landed her on a porn site and her computer was stuck there until the tech people reset her computer.
  • I was editing a book about atrocities committed during a political regime when I became curious about the correct terminology to use and began to Google search different types of guns and bullets. Then I wondered what my search history implied when seen out of context.
  • I have scanned through webpages for products to do research for clients. Then I realized how interconnected my world was when I started to see ads for these products on my social media. All my social media.
  • I’ve noticed I do frequent searches for popular boy names and girl names. It probably looks like I’m thinking of naming a baby I’ll have one of these days. I guess you could say I have a lot of “children.” They are all names chosen for story characters and characters for client scenarios.

My conclusion: My search history is for many unrelated and unusual topics, such as how to fix issues for products I don’t own or how to dye blond hair I don’t have. Indeed, being an editor and writer has made me curious about a multitude of unusual things.

What’s the last thing you searched for online?

Humor and Horror: Workplace Typos We Wish We Could Take Back

If you communicate with other humans by typing messages, you’ve probably experienced this horrifying moment. For me, it was swearing at my dad when my fat fingers switched two letters on my phone and instead of typing “ok,” I typed a swear word. Also when I emailed my favorite author and said, “I’m a writer too!” and signed the email with “Thanks you.” When these mistakes happen at work, it can be worse (or just as bad). And we’re not alone.

Here is a collection of typos that I found circulating on the internet. They appear in different types of media, from internet searches to videos to websites. For this reason, I am unable to track down or credit the original owner. If you are the owner or know the owner, let me know! I could relate to these typos, and I hope that you will too.

Imagine having a terrible workday when your computer asks if you want to exist. In a world where AI is everywhere, I can’t help but wonder if some artificial being wants to take over my job. Or my life.

For those who design programs, this message reminds them of the importance of doing a final QA to check for typos before releasing a program to the public.

This warm message is both heartwarming and memorable for teachers. The students are showing appreciation for what their teacher taught them, such as spelling and vocabulary. It is also a reminder that sometimes, students are eager to apply what they’ve learned, but they still have more to learn.

These labels are all spelled differently. As an editor, I can relate to this. I’ve been aghast to find the chapters in books are not the same, such as using a different format from one chapter to the next. Sometimes, you just don’t realize there’s a problem until you compare everything side by side.

If you’ve ever ordered several copies of something, such as a company brochure or a business card, and only noticed the typo after several copies were made, you will appreciate this sale-priced item.

Sometimes, a typo can show a lot of resilience and pass through several sets of eyes and stages of approval. Sometimes, you just need to appreciate their tenacity.

This isn’t quite a typo but I wanted to share this one. Something got lost in translation but this translation sure is sweet. I would love to experience what tiny grass dreaming is like. It sounds fun. It is better than the original language, which says that tiny grass is resting… do not disturb. Sweet dreams!

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