In recent years, I have noticed how little people were already talking to each other. Texting, tweeting, and posting on social media has become the norm. I consider texting and tweeting to be the lowest sense of communication between us. I have seen people text each other while sitting at the same table in a restaurant, even before the pandemic.
Texting has its place in this fast-paced world we live in today, but it shouldn’t be used exclusively. For one thing, it should NOT be used to inform a loved one about a death in the family or the birth of a new child. Something as important as that should be communicated sincerely using your own voice, with emotion, not with words or emojis. Texting was invented solely by wireless carriers to add a new paid service to their cell phone plans. Actually texting is nothing new; it’s just a revamped old form of communication: ticker and Morse code.
Have you seen any of the latest YouTube videos? I have seen several product demo and review videos with no verbal audio or no audio at all. I don’t mean just the videos that the “Average Joe” uploaded, but the videos of the product manufacturers themselves. As a voice actor, this worries me. The videos show images or clips of the different products with subtitles on the lower screen. Why? Have we lost our ability to verbalize something?
We, as human beings, have been blessed with the power of speech. In schools they taught us to make vowels and form words. What happened? The next time you feel the need to reach out to a loved one, try a novel idea: give him a call and talk to him. Let them hear your voice saying hello! How are you?
Technology has a way of infiltrating our lives in hopes of making everything in life more convenient. We all need to be diligent about how, where and why we need the electronic device before considering the often expensive purchase. Will it really make our tasks easier or much more complicated? Computers are wonderful when they work properly, but what happens when they don’t work properly? Technology must be kept in its proper place at all times.