Ever been about to phone a friend and wondered if he or she is busy? If it is OK to disturb? I came to think of it the other day, that calling someone is actually a way of intruding on other peoples private life. I’m making a phone call because I want to talk to someone right now. And the thing is, on the receivers end, one feels obligated to answer the phone when someone calls. Somehow it is the callers right to reach you whenever he or she wants; not taking a call when you could (or should) is close to cutting some off by saying “I don’t want to talk to you”. Who says that to a friend face to face? Very few. Of course, this is not face to face, that is the reason we can get away with not taking that phone call. We can always pretend to be busy, not hear the phone ringing or whatever.
However, as we move over to communication technologies like Skype, all that is about to change. One of the most brilliant features in Skype is the ability to indicate to the surrounding world whether you are available for talk or not. This way you don’t have to turn one particular friend down by ignoring his call; tell them all in advance! And from the callers point of view: It is so much more rewarding to call someone who actually wants to talk! If you don’t feel like talking, or got your head buried inside some project that needs your attention, set your indicator to “busy” or something and tell your contacts that now is not a good time to call.
So if you don’t wanna talk, send the message. If you really wanna talk, let someone “Skype you”. You might actually make some new friends while you’re at it. This is what communication should be all about anyway; you shouldn’t have to give up your privacy even if you wanna stay in touch. This, I think, is a “new” and more humane way of communicating. The tools are small, but the social impact is high.
