Old Things Still Come in Handy

            Imagine a world with no cellphones and computers. Imagine having to contact your girlfriend or boyfriend through a pager. A pager isn’t as convenient as a cellphone, mind you. You would have to call the operator and say your message to the operator and then the operator will deliver your message to the other person. It isn’t as simultaneous as how we can now hold a conversation over the phone or simply send a text message and expect a response in a matter of seconds. Wouldn’t it be weird to call an operator and say, “goodnight baby I love you!” or “I’m mad at you!” and here snickers at the background then have the operator deliver that message to your girlfriend’s pager? What if you’re a photographer for a wedding and a fortuitous event occurred while you were on the road going to the church, how will you let the organizers know that you won’t be able to come?

            Setting technology’s role in communication aside, technology has made life easier in almost every aspect. Machines have made production more efficient and effective. Hundreds or even thousands of water bottles are packaged in no time because of the machinery used for mass production. Go to a Krispy Kreme branch and watch how the donuts are made; you’ll see how amazing machines are and how it brings forth convenience in our lives.

            Technology, especially in communication does not choose class in social structures. As sad as it may be, it is evident that there is a big gap between the rich and the poor, but in this case, both benefit from the technology used for communication. Even if the majority have a hard time sustaining life and feeding their families, it would be very rare to someone in the mall or even any ordinary worker without a cellphone.

            Whenever, I take part in an outreach program, I start the day with a heavy heart, not because I don’t want to reach out to the less fortunate, but because it saddens me that I will not be able to communicate with them after that day. During third year high school, my class had an interaction with the prisoners of bilibid prison. It frightened me at the beginning, but when I got to meet my partner, my stereotypical views towards prisoners changed dramatically. They are friendly people, its just that sometimes the hardships poor people face take away their presence of mind and blue their chances of thinking right.  I got attached to my partner and I felt down when we had to go because it’s not like I will be able to text him or chat with him again. This is where the importance of “primitive” things comes in. Even if we cannot contact through the use of a phone or a computer, there is always an alternative, which is writing letters. After that day, I continuously sent him letters and he wrote back as I gave the address of Xavier School and they would hand it to me. This classic form of communicating allows us to communicate with people who to not have the chance to use the technology we have today just like people in prison. Even if I am a frequent user of the cellphone and the computer, I do not fail to appreciate how important writing letters were and are still as of today. As important as technology’s role in communication may be, we should never take for granted the old way of doing things, because without such, we would not have been able to make the leap to where we are today.