Wednesday 29 June 2022

Conversations

 The other day someone asked if the art of conversation had disappeared from our culture. Dinner parties, they said, with lots of illustrious guests all talking about interesting things. It made me stop and think. We were enjoying lunch in a busy restaurant and talking our heads off as usual. 

"That couple over there hasn't said a word to each other," said my companion. "He has his nose buried in his phone and she's just sitting there. Wonder if they've had a row or does he really think scrolling through his phone is more interesting than talking to his wife, assuming she's his wife.?"

Of course, it was none of our business but when we looked around the restaurant, we saw that several couples were deep into scrolling their phones. It is too common a sight to cause much interest but when you think about it: what happened to the art of conversation?

Supposing you are attending an interview and the interviewer wants to size up you and your potential for the job. I believe they always check your social media posts. Too bad if you went off the deep end over some celebrity mash up and took the wrong side from the interviewer's point of view, even if it was two years ago and you changed your mind since. The thing about the spoken word is that it can be forgotten and not raked up ten years later.

Just imagine sitting down to a dinner with some of your favourite people - and all of them too busy scrolling through their phones to do more than acknowledge the arrival of the soup!

 


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