Steven Libretti

John Savarese
Assignment 1
September 17, 2008
Communication in the 21st Century

With the advancements in technology, meeting people with similar interests could not be

easier. Websites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, and Flickr perpetuate the content with which

people can freely express themselves. Internet blogs and journals have shaped a completely new

realm of communication with which individuals can openly interact with one another in a whole

new way. Humans can discuss topics which may not be acceptable to the modern society the

internet, in the modern age; the internet has even replaced reading. Writing one’s opinions as

well as reading others may not be the formal reading methods that have been embraced since

childhood. According to Michelle Brazier, author of Points of Departure, “Reading practices

have dramatically changed in the past fifteen years.” (Brazier V). With internet blogs and social

networking sites, people are not necessarily taking the time to sit down and read books anymore.

On the other hand, Adam Gopnik, author of Bumping into Mr. Ravioli, feels that all

forms of communication other than physically talking to a person leave a suggestion for further

communication. Gopnik says “E-mails end with a suggestion for a phone call, answering

machines…request a fax” (Gopnik 121). There is no one form of indirect communication that

does not “perpetually suspend communication” (Gopnik 121). An e-mail which asks for a phone

call and a text message that relates a time to meet in person conveys the idea that the two

individuals would like to continue their conversation at a later date or time. In the world that we

are living in today, people have taken the solitude involved in reading and turned it into a social

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experience through various forms of communication. The practice of formal reading has been

dying with the advancements in technology. It has terminated the formal ways of reading that

many have been accustomed to. However, with the birth of the text message and other

technologies, reading has been modernized for the twenty century. Every time a person receives

a text message or an e-mail he/she is both reading as well as interacting with another human.

Human interaction does not always have to be face to face; nor does it have to be an on-going

conversation. With the way the world has progressed human interaction has changed in that, not

only do people interact by meeting up with one another; they also discuss important topics by

means of a blog, a text message, or an e-mail.

Adam Gopnik and Michelle Brazier feel that communication is a very important way of

life. Michelle Brazier feels that interaction between two individuals does not have to be

continuous. The interaction can just be sporadic and happen whenever. Michelle Brazier also

feels that the text message is going to be the new way of communicating in the future. The text

message has caught on already and it just seems that it is only going to grow. In contrast, Adam

Gopnik feels that with technology advancing, it is also pulling people apart at the same time.

Gopnik says “While the train and the telegram…pushed people together, the car and the

television pulled people apart” (Gopnik 121). This statement by Gopnik is a valid point, but

humans have been communicating for hundreds of years and there is no reason why modern

technology of any sort should be pulling our society apart. The television and the car should if

anything be pulling people together more than ever. With the television, the car, and now the

internet, it is next to impossible not to know what is going on in the world today.

Brazier states “the world becomes more complex every day” (Brazier V). Brazier says

that many people may do not consider themselves avid readers or writers. Coincidentally those

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people who do not consider themselves readers or writers may in fact be the largest group of

readers/writers. A person does not always have to have his/her face buried in a novel to enjoy

reading. He/she may enjoy reading in a completely different manner. In Michelle Brazier’s

introduction, Beyond the Text Message, she writes about how text messaging has become a much

more popular way of reading as well as writing. Although it does not appear to be true to most,

text messaging is one of the number one forms of communication today. Of course a text

message may not have the best grammar nor does it have the best punctuation, but humans are

interacting and they are in fact reading. People who do not consider themselves readers or

writers are probably the individuals who read and write the most. These people are not reading

about “complex ideas or extended prose” (Brazier V). These generally younger individuals

formulate their own ideas and they “fashion a response of equal complexity and depth” that is

fitting to the topic at hand (Brazier V). Through modern technology humans can now interact

freely and openly via the internet. The internet has created a gateway to infinite forms of human

interaction that do not always need a response or feedback from another individual.

“It introduced something into the world which remains with us today: a whole new class

of communications that are defined as incomplete in advance of their delivery. A letter though it

may enjoin a response, is meant to be complete in itself” (Gopnik 121). Gopnik says here that a

form of communication such as a letter should be a complete form of communication. However,

a letter is generally not a complete or finished form of communication. There is always a

suggestion for more to be said. Adam Gopnik feels that this is the problem with modern forms

of communication. He feels that any communication that is not face to face is not going to end.

Gopnik feels that with communications types such as e-mails, text messages, and even telegrams,

there will always be a suggestion for a follow up. He feels that there is always a suggestion to

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continue on with the conversation, but people generally do this as a way to avoid talking to a

person anymore. Adam Gopnik feels that communication is important, but there is always a

suggestion for a follow up message. Gopnik feels that people need to find a way to have a

complete conversation. He feels that a complete conversation would be one that ended with no

direct desire for future communication. There is always going to a chance to talk again,

especially if both parties are interested in doing so, but Gopnik feels that people need to be able

to end a conversation at one point and look forward to starting a conversation about a new topic

in the near future.

Over the last few hundred years we have seen great changes in the world in terms of

communication. From the invention of the telegram to the internet, text messages, and e-mail,

the world as we know it is changing. There is no excuse as to why people are too busy to talk.

There is no excuse as to why a mother should not be able to get in touch with her son/daughter.

With this there is also no reason why people should not be informed about what is going on in

the world. With the abundance of news sites information is very easy to come by. In addition to

having news sites, there are also blogs and social networking sites which give the user up-to-date

information about the smaller things in life. The telegram had changed the world in one way,

and now the internet along with everything that goes with it is going to be bringing the world

into a whole new chapter of life. With the invention of the internet, people can easily stay in

touch with family members who may live five thousand miles away. This new chapter of life

will be one that will continue on forever due to the fact that technology never goes backwards; it

can only move forward to faster and more direct forms of communication. With all the

technology that is available for each and every individual, human interaction through a text, a

phone call, or an e-mail is unavoidable. Modern technology has enabled a vast variety of

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communication types which keep humans interacting in a way that they feel the most

comfortable with.

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