Thinking Out Loud: Muted Voices

It was 5:46 PM, and as the sun sets as I ride home, I plugged my earphones in and drowned myself into the sounds of OPM. I fell asleep as my mind wandered through the tunes of the Eraserheads, Itchyworms, and Up Dharma Down, among others. I woke up hearing the following line,

"Apat na oras tayong nagbabad sa telepono. Inabutan na tayo ng umaga no'n."  

That line is from Telepono of Sugarfree. I bet most of us would be able to relate to that. In the days before smart phones, laptops, and even mobile phones, we'd spend hours and hours on the telephone line and even sometimes until the wee hours. You can't deny it but there is just something else in hearing someone else's voice. It feels like you get to know the person more once you hear their voice over the phone.

But that was years ago. Nowadays, it feels like such instances are as rare as traffic-free-EDSA days. Even with mobile phones and 24 by 7 connectivity, it feels like people are more inclined to talk via text messages and chat instead of talking to each other.

Image from scheppel.deviantart.com

What happened? What the heck happened to all of us? Are we more content in talking virtually with each other now? The thrill of hearing the voice of someone and the emotions deep in it are all gone. 

Gone are the way we feel their each and every word. Not anymore can you feel the excitement course through the words that they are speaking as they talk about how awesome their day was, or your heart melt from the sweetness that could only come from their voice as they start to drift into sleep, or your soul break down as the mellowness of what they say reflect the shitty day they just had. There is a real and significant difference between reading and hearing words, from a simple "Hi!" all the way to "I love you."

We desire connection but this led to us being disconnected. We hear each other more often but we all lost our voices. We all kept in touch, but our hands rarely meet each other now.

Yes, I recognize that the times have changed. There was a time when hearing someone's voice over any kind of object seemed impossible. There was already a time when we have already relied on reading words instead of listening to them - back when we communicated via written letters and mail. There might have even been a time where we primarily relied on body language. But that only further shows the one thing that seems to be missing nowadays - the human factor.

We wrote letters with our own hands with our own handwriting in our own style. We spoke words with our own voices in a manner that is unique to each one of us. We had our own particular gestures to show what we are thinking and what we are feeling.

But all of that is essentially lost if everything is run through the internet and other similar forms of connection. Heck, even with this piece that I am writing, I bet you wouldn't have imagined me waiving my hands all over the place while singing along to Words by Boyzone.

It's just not complete. It's not the same. It's not living life as much as we could. When it all comes down to it, we are living in a world dominated by 1s and 0s, when it could be so much more.

So I ask you, in this world of missing emotions and muted voices, is this the real life?

Or is this just fantasy?

(This piece is partly inspired by an amazing work by one of my favorite writers. You can check her latest work, "Definitely, Maybe: Love in the Age of Social Media" right here. Go check it out guys!)