Staying in Touch, Then and Now

As you go through life, you meet people, whether it's at school, or at work. Sometimes, these people become friends, and you want to stay in touch with them. The methods to do this are something that has changed quite rapidly in recent years.

Growing up in St. Louis, I remember how me and my friends stayed in touch outside of school and other daily activities where we saw each other. The only way to see what a friend was doing, was to pick up my home phone (cell phones were still something mainly for Very Important People back then, they were just beginning to see mainstream use) call my friend's house, usually ask if he is home, and then talk to him. Now, I can whip out my phone and in about 5 or 10 minutes send my friend a text, check if he's online on Facebook, AIM, or any other instant messenger, and send him a tweet, which will go directly to his phone. Of course, I could have just called him.

Then came the internet. Soon, kids everywhere were using AOL to talk to each other more conveniently. Now we just had to wait a couple minutes for the modem to connect (I still remember the beeps, and static, and all the other noises a modem made, making it impossible to get online at night without waking half of the house), and soon we could see who was online, and talk to multiple people at once. This made staying in touch over long distances easier. This phenomenon soon took hold, and we saw an explosion in the movement to make communication more and more instantaneous.

In the fall of 1997, my family moved to Poland for two years, because my Dad got a promotion which involved moving there. This wasn't a problem, since my family is Polish, and we knew the language, but now I would be separated from all my friends by an entire ocean. The internet made things easier, allowing me to talk to my friends (as long as I could work around the time zone issues). I also used letters and postcards. You had to remember to send those early, if you were sending them for a birthday or other special event. Communication wasn't as instantaneous as it is today. By the time we came back to St. Louis in 1999, the internet was the dominant source of communication in my life.

Recently I had a chance to spend some time studying abroad. I went to a university in Strasbourg, France as part of a study abroad program as an undergraduate at UMSL. Then a year later (2008) I returned to Strasbourg as a graduate student doing the first year of UMSL's International MBA there. During this time, I met many students from many different countries. Many of them became close friends. However after a year together we would be dispersed throughout the world, returning to our home countries to finish our studies. Not even 20 years ago, keeping in touch with all those people would have been much different. I still have somewhere in my room my old address book, which had entries for most of my friends and family. Each entry had a home address and phone number, and sometimes and email address. Now my digital address book consists mainly of phone numbers and email addresses for all my friends and family.

In today's world keeping in touch with my friends from my stay abroad is much easier. Between Facebook, Skype, Twitter, email, and various instant messenger programs, we have no excuse to lose contact between each other. And the use of these technologies is growing more and more prevalent.

These technologies came about as a result of two converging forces: the Internet Explosion, and Globalization. The internet quickly grew in popularity and soon almost everyone had access to it. The internet didn't change our need to communicate with each other; it facilitated that need. . People around the world loved it. Businesses embraced it. The internet allowed for corporations in different parts of the globe to communicate more quickly, without having to wait for the right time to call, or for a response by mail. Soon, the smarter people saw where this was going, and began to address the human desire to stay in touch with members of our social circles. As a result we have things like Facebook, Skype, Twitter, and so on.

Now we are able to talk to each other anytime, day or night. This can be both good and bad. There are countless stories of texts or emails sent under the influence of alcohol, which are later regretted. Sometimes we want privacy, which can be hard when there are so many ways to reach somebody now. This can be good too, as seen in emergencies, through the use of mass emergency text systems or email alerts. There are things I like and dislike about Facebook, Twitter, and other technologies. For example, privacy can be hard to control, unless you are very diligent. If you don't want people seeing certain things, you really have to pay attention. Also, some people post too much information, which can be annoying. This can be controlled in your settings, but that also takes some effort.

However the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Using Facebook, Skype, and Windows Live Messenger, I have been able to stay in touch with my friends from Strasbourg. We update each other on our lives, plan trips to see each other again, and help each other out. For example, one of my friends from Mexico has asked me on a couple occasions to proof-read letters her company sends to American companies to makes sure the English is correct. For that matter, when I needed help with information about the Brazilian stock markets, I called my Brazilian friend on Skype and talked to him.

All in all, I think that our current communication technology fulfills the human need to stay in touch with his fellow man. There are some disadvantages, but the benefits outweigh them. It is hard to imagine life without Facebook or Twitter, and it is equally as hard to predict what we will be using in 10 or 20 years.