Lost Conversations

   

 I've been thinking about all the conversations we no longer have.  

     As a kid our mail went to the post office.  Every day or two someone had to stop by and get the mail.  Invariably my mom would say:  "This'll take two shakes."  But I knew if I didn't roll the window down in the summer the car would get awfully hot before she got back.  

     I remember more than once getting out of the car, taking the issue of 'National Geographic', 'Better Homes and Gardens' or, if I was real lucky, my 'Young Miss' magazine from her hand.  I'd get back in the car and be halfway through it before the conversations ended.  People could stand in front of the post office shooting the breeze for a very long time.   

     When we got gasoline it was practically part of the payment to have an extended conversation with Mr. Gaither, the man who owned the gas station and also pumped the gas.  He'd talk about politics, how great it was that the high school track team was going to state, or some other current event.

     Going to the grocery store you'd usually run into at least half a dozen people you knew...including, of course, the checker, the bagger, and the manager.  The grocery store conversation might be about recipes, medical advice, school supply lists, or upcoming community events.  

     When in other towns people used to regularly pull into a gas station and have long conversations with strangers about how to get to wherever they were going.   

     We used to have to chat with an actual human being to obtain someone's phone number.  Now no one says:  "Cora, get me 'Aint' Bea." anymore.   Jim Croce's song 'Operator" probably doesn't even make sense to kids.  Heck - even if we have someone's phone number we don't actually talk to them.  We text them.  

     The small amount of snail mail there is now comes right to the door.  We pump our own gas and the machine takes the money and gives us a receipt.  (I actually tend to feel annoyed if I 'have to' go in to get a receipt or if the payment machine isn't working.)  We go to FoodNetwork when looking for a good recipe, ask medical advice from webMd, and most towns and schools have websites to share information.

      We consult the GPS on our phones for directions.  We buy things from Craig's list, get business recommendations from Angie's lists, and everything else we do a Google search on or we Ask Jeeves.  

     We use our washers and dryers inside so we don't chat over the fence while hanging out, or taking in, the laundry.  Conversations about what to cook for dinner, how to get a spot out of a shirt, or who to get to fix the roof used to happen in these casual meetings.  

   
     But the universe hates a void, and social media has jumped in to fill it.

     It seems to me that Facebook, twitter, and Pinterest, have become the virtual back fence we all lean over to share our lives and gather information.

     The strangest part is...it doesn't seem like errands take any less time.