The bane of emails

Recently I witnessed a seemingly acrimonious exchange of emails between 2 persons within a google group which I'm part of. None of us in the group intervened until things cooled off with the one who started it asking the other to buy him 2 glasses of teh tarik.

Whilst I think google groups or yahoo groups do facilitate communication, I doubt they can replace face to face communication over a glass of teh tarik. We are all the poorer if they do. In fact, sometimes it may lead to misunderstanding. All we can read are words. We cannot hear the tone of the voice of the sender, neither can we observe his/her body language. Often, I think because of the instantaneous nature of this mode of communication, we tend to react instantaneously too i.e. there is not much reflection when we hit the keyboard.

I still remember I used to spend almost half the day writing 5 pages letters to my friends. I've stopped doing that and I wonder how many of us still write letters to friends and family members who are away. Emails are more convenient. If that isn't enough, there is always sms. I think in time to come, biographers will find it extremely difficult to write biographies of people due to the lack or complete absence of snail mail correspondence.

Perhaps we may need to 'fast' from emails. Normally I do not check my office emails after going home and during the weekends. Maybe I should extend this to my personal emails also. The problem I foresee with an extended 'fast' will be when you break fast you will be inundated with hundreds of mails. Well, I guess that's one facet of modern living that we need to live with. Having said that, I wonder how can people live with a Blackberry? I know some people can't live without one.

Well, I think anything that we can't live without will eventually become our god, how wonderful that thing or even person may be. Pascal said, "There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus". Try filling that vacuum with something else, that's idolatry.