Is modern communication causing uncommunicative behaviour?

Something I have been contemplating for quite some time now is the use of modern communication technology.

Back in 1995 when the internet first came about in Australia about how it was going to revolutionise and improve communications between people, I was initially sceptical about how it was going to do that, and now 17 years later my scepticism has come back about it.

You can create the most efficient and sophisticated communication devices like instant messaging, networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace but at the end of the day you cannot override basic human nature.

Human nature by default is described in the Bible as being immoral, filthy. indecent, idolatry, sorcery, jealous, angry, ambitious and condoning drunken behaviour and sex orgies.

Has the internet managed to cure humanity of these ailments? If anything, it has made them worse.

How many times do we get an abusive email or forum post or Facebook wall post from someone that we know and when pulled up about it they say: "I was drunk at the time, sorry" or refuse to discuss the matter with you in person?

How many times do we hear about identity theft, money scams, and other unscrupulous activities happening because of the internet?

Is the Internet in itself a bad thing? No, certainly not. It can be used for good or bad intent as the individual using it. And as it goes, the generations that have grown up with the internet as their main source of reference and communication are thought of as the most selfish generations on this planet after the hippies.

For the sake of human happiness, let's start to take some steps back in becoming the best we can be.

Write a handwritten letter to someone you know well so they know it is from you and not faked. Don't enroach on a person's own space with tons of emails a day or else they could end up resenting you.

Where Facebook status updates are concerned, you need to stop explaining every facet of your everyday life. Nobody cares what colour toilet paper you use, getting pissed off because you missed a bus or train to work, or what your cat had for lunch. People find it boring after a while.

Where scams are concerned, I sometimes wish that a law could b introduced where the offenders hands get cut off so they will never be able to do anything like that again, same as those who use the Net to buy and trade child pornography.

So let's start learning to be sensible with communication technology. Use it to make something special out of our human race instead of amplifying how fucked-up it already is.