Compliments of Rick via Flickr

Conversing with people years past occupied a place of tradition – face to face repertoires that we anticipated, and in which we routinely took pleasure. Verbal discourse (in the age of digital) has become somewhat antiquated when upstaged by texting, e-mail, and electronic back and forth. Oral skills (when shelved) remain dormant (or decline), particularly when we are latched to a cell phone. Statistics show that looking down at droids (and iPhones) can even result in death.

Below are some ground rules, in the spirit of facilitating rapport and improving our safety: Turn the page…

Compliments of Kevin O’Mara via Flickr

Fast and loose with the spoken word is one thing; but speech (when calcified on paper) can produce either extraordinary or devastating outcomes. Texting has transmorphed what was previously a domain of careful study and scrupulous forethought to a slapdash affair, one in which we may not take time to proofread. Instant has become the catchphrase (not just for a communication medium), but for a mode as well. Wrapped with ragged taped edges, “send” is now a metaphor for a more permanent form. Sometimes we forget the following: Turn the page…