The Pohick family had a bit of a revelation today. We do a lot of communicating via computer. So, you are probably thinking to yourself, "What is unusual about that? In this day and age, everyone communicates by computer in one way or another. So here's the situation. Jake was upstairs in his den when he received an email from yellow hair asking a question about her homework assignment. As we have often pointed out, Jake is probably the wrong person to ask if you need an actual factual answer to a homework assignment. Jake thought to himself, "No problem. I'll just ask Molly. She always knows the answers to these homework questions." Unfortunately, Jake was feeling just a little too lazy to hike all the way downstairs to the Kitchen to find Molly. Yelling for Molly was also out of the question since Molly had finally broken Jake of the habit of yelling in the house like some sort of ruffian. Then Jake had a great idea, "I'll just use the Skype." So, Jake Skyped Molly. Molly said, "I can't believe that you are calling me on the computer from the same house." Jake said, "Well, Yellow Hair needs help with her homework." Molly then said, "Please send her down to see me. I don't want to do homework assignments on the phone or computer or skpe or whatever it is. I tried to instant message StarrySpark, but she isn't online." Jake then yelled across the hall, "StarrySpark, log into AIM. Your mother wants to speak with you." StarrySpark then yelled back, "Why can't we all just talk to each other like a normal family." This caused Jake to pause for a moment. Normal family? What is that supposed to mean? I guess we have come a long way. Some would consider this a terrible state of affairs. A family that communicates via electronic gadets. Jake however likes to look at the positive side of things. Think of this as the evolution of the family to version 2.0. It's not like we are not communicating. Actually we are communicating at the speed of light. Yah, that's the ticket. Boldly going where no family has gone before. Anyway, before we do anything else, someone please skype grandma and see how she is doing today.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Family Version 2.0
The Pohick family had a bit of a revelation today. We do a lot of communicating via computer. So, you are probably thinking to yourself, "What is unusual about that? In this day and age, everyone communicates by computer in one way or another. So here's the situation. Jake was upstairs in his den when he received an email from yellow hair asking a question about her homework assignment. As we have often pointed out, Jake is probably the wrong person to ask if you need an actual factual answer to a homework assignment. Jake thought to himself, "No problem. I'll just ask Molly. She always knows the answers to these homework questions." Unfortunately, Jake was feeling just a little too lazy to hike all the way downstairs to the Kitchen to find Molly. Yelling for Molly was also out of the question since Molly had finally broken Jake of the habit of yelling in the house like some sort of ruffian. Then Jake had a great idea, "I'll just use the Skype." So, Jake Skyped Molly. Molly said, "I can't believe that you are calling me on the computer from the same house." Jake said, "Well, Yellow Hair needs help with her homework." Molly then said, "Please send her down to see me. I don't want to do homework assignments on the phone or computer or skpe or whatever it is. I tried to instant message StarrySpark, but she isn't online." Jake then yelled across the hall, "StarrySpark, log into AIM. Your mother wants to speak with you." StarrySpark then yelled back, "Why can't we all just talk to each other like a normal family." This caused Jake to pause for a moment. Normal family? What is that supposed to mean? I guess we have come a long way. Some would consider this a terrible state of affairs. A family that communicates via electronic gadets. Jake however likes to look at the positive side of things. Think of this as the evolution of the family to version 2.0. It's not like we are not communicating. Actually we are communicating at the speed of light. Yah, that's the ticket. Boldly going where no family has gone before. Anyway, before we do anything else, someone please skype grandma and see how she is doing today.
Hey Jake you may be on to something. Although the communication is slower it will be more accurate and correct for the idea attempted to be communicated. You can also bluff better by not having your nonverbal (squirming, shifty eyes, sweating, look like the cat that just ate the mouse) and end up in the dog house. You can look more intelligent by using spell check to ensure that all works are spelled correct, grammar check to ensure that you don’t sound like someone from the hicks. You can also come across as being an expert on all subjects, for instance; Palikir is the capitol of the Federated States of Micronesia, their language is English, their currency is the US Dollar and their population is about 118,000. How it works. I’m a very smart person and I know a lot. No, not really. I’m not that smart but I’m cleaver. I just do a quick hop on Google and do a quick search for the area that I would like to dazzle my target audience with my keen intellect. What this form of communication allows you to do is take back what you said by reading what you want to say and make sure it’s saying what you mean. If it doesn’t pass that check you can take it back and reword it before the receiver ever sees it. In the process of writing this comment I corrected several words, changed cases and tenses to ensure compliance to the rules programmed into the software. Did you ever say something you wish you could take back or didn’t mean to say but it came out anyway? If you spent time in the doghouse I’m sure that you had plenty of time to think about these breaches of uncontrolled, “what was I thinking”, means of communication. This is only as good as the accuracy of the person receiving the message. I can’t help the he said, she heard dilemma though. You know, the melees like he said that he was thirsty, innocent as it sounds, she may have heard him say, hey woman go get me something to drink. With this electronic medium you can save your conversations to have lawyers later interpret what was really conveyed, this is not a win all situation. It all depends on the representation. I think you’ve started a new era from the Nuclear Family to the Networked Family. Hey bottom line whatever works to eliminate barriers and obstacles to communication among family members are a good thing.
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