Slow Communication

by Nancy Olson

It is estimated that by 2011, there will be 3.2 billion e-mail users. This is an astounding bit of information when one considers that the first e-mail was sent less than forty years ago. And while technology has no doubt increased our efficiency and productivity in many ways, there are looming effects. The Tyranny of E-Mail, The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox, introduced last October, methodically analyzes correspondence through the ages and cites the consequences of our overly wired lifestyles. Award-winning writer John Freeman offers alternatives to the BlackBerry bandwagon, helping us reclaim our humanity as we turn on, tune in and don’t send.

Nancy Olson: Your book presents so much solid research, yet it is very poetically written. Was this a deliberate way to juxtapose technology and thoughtful expression?
John Freeman: I wanted to write something in a style that was an antidote to the shouting and ranting of e-mail. And I was trying to lure people into a more thoughtful register by writing in a way that was more appropriate and lyrical. We have aspects of ourselves that are accessible only through deep thought and solitude. And the kinds of states of mind that produce good writing are transcendent and access something inside that is beyond us. I wanted to sort of slow things down.

NO: What role does handwriting play in the continuum of face-to-face interaction and digital interaction?
JF: Some things are better done more slowly. You don’t go for a walk at such a pace that you’re huffing and puffing—you slow down and take it in. The same holds true for written communication. The whole point of correspondence is the connection with someone else, and people are more overwhelmed than ever by digital forms of human communication. A handwritten letter is not competing with 200 other handwritten letters—it’s written with care and deliberation and allows for the spots to happen where it can be most thoughtfully considered.

NO: Early in the book, you cite the evolution of mail as “a tale of how, with the invention of postal systems and the democratization of their use, words began to knit more than just nations together. Words written by hand, then carried by the saddlebags of travelers, kept friendships alive and gave shape and texture to the daily experiences—and the thoughts—of people who wanted to communicate but were not within speaking distance of one another.” Would you elaborate?
JF: For the longest time, people couldn’t communicate over long distances. Most people, except for royalty and churches, had to communicate face to face. The introduction of postal delivery and the democratization of words did an amazing thing for our interior lives. When you put a pen to paper, it is the speed of human thought that allows you to dial into something that’s private and intimate. The introduction of that communication channel meant you could never lose anyone if you knew where he or she lived.

NO: Would you comment on our declining social and verbal skills, as well as our poor interpretation of social cues, as a result of e-mail?
JF: Spending huge amounts of time working in a medium that has fewer social cues than ever teaches us to talk and not listen. The best kinds of conversations are not the ones where everyone is just waiting for their turn to talk. Digital encourages one-way communication. A really nice conversation overlaps and intertwines.