Family Law

Communications in the 21st Century :: Part One

By J. Benjamin Stevens

I am pleased to bring you the exclusive online presentation of "Communications in the 21st Century" by Rev. Dr. Trey Kuhne, LMFT.  I will publish this multi-part series over the next several Fridays, and I hope that it is helpful to you.  I want to thank Dr. Kuhne for allowing me to once again present his series to you on my blog.  Here is Part One:

This year I am embarking onto a new series that takes an honest and serious look at how we communicate in the 21st century. Our century is one of social and networking connections, Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, online transactions, everything internet and very little voice to voice or face to face. It's kind of odd that one of the chief social networking sites used by many is called Facebook; where actually making face to face contact is NOT a part of this tool. Pictures are posted, words are written on one another's 'walls'' and connections are established with friends or strangers with immediate intimacy.

Not long ago, the Supreme Court took up the decision on whether telephone texting / emailing at work is completely private or whether employers can be privileged to such communication while employees are at work. This will be a critical issue towards what constitutes privacy in communications.

I am really worried about how far and fast phone texting has come into our culture, surpassing actual voice connections. There is an obvious need to connect and befriend others and such widespread use of this form does speak to how important it is to feel connected with others. But such forms also promote anxiety and a sense of immediate gratification. No longer are the primary tools of communication body language, eye contact, hearing, smell, and touch.

Young people and the generations of the 21st century are not accultured to actually listen with their ears but primarily with their eyes. Having a cell phone for every young person seems to be an expectation for 21st century parents. While cell phones and texting are here to stay, my best I can do is to make parents and persons aware of the dangers of eye-only communication and encourage education to the other forms as well.

What would have happened in Jesus' time if he had texted his anger and frustration at those selling in His Father's Temple? What if Jesus had called each disciple by a Twitter message at the same time to all? Would they have responded the same?

There are many future modes of communication yet to come, mostly those of the virtual nature. These future forms will make texting seem infantile. Holographic and virtual representations will replace our actual presence. Already, one person's voice or image can be in more than one place at one time via the internet.

Next week I would like to explore the motives from our social culture that promotes these shallow and mostly inadequate forms of communication. You may be surprised at who profits from how you communicate.

Grace and Peace,
Dr. Trey Kuhne

Dr. Trey Kuhne is a pastoral counselor and licensed marriage and family therapist with Pathways Pastoral Counseling located at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 400 Dupre Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29307. He specializes in working with individuals, couples and families. Call (864) 542-3019 for an appointment. He may be reach via email at: pathwayspc@aol.com.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on April 09, 2010 (boomark / email).