In the years that preceded technology it took a long time to communicate through anything other than face-to-face. As the days turned into weeks it became more difficult to not wonder how the communication had been recieved. One could simply assume that the return correspondence was in transit somewhere.With the advent of technology the ability to obtain real time information has been amazing. However, one of the byproducts of that technology is the absence of a reply becomes more painful, more quickly. We send an e-mail, we leave a voicemail. The longer it takes for a response back, the more painful the waiting. It has been reduced from weeks and months, to minutes and hours.
Giving one the silent treatment can be a form of punishment. If one were to give the silent treatment pre-technology, one would have had to keep silent much longer. Nowadays, silent treatment can be as instant as sending a call to voicemail
During the absence of feedback, my mind starts to wonder how the other is feeling. It can start to eat at me in terms of response time. When I don't hear, my mind quickly starts to consider different options. It is always a great thing when the response comes back, either positive or negative, because the knowing helps me feel on firmer ground.
1 comment:
I totally agree with you! It's a great thing to be able to communicate quicker, however when we send a quick message - phone message, e-mail, text, etc. it's hard not to read into why the other person is not responding as quickly as it took for you to leave the message. I wonder if they got the message or if it's lost in cyberspace somewhere.
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