Have you ever had the joyous feeling of meeting an old school colleague randomly on the street or reuniting with family after being away from home for a few months. I'm sure most of us have faced these situations. The joy and feelings are difficult to express in words. In a word, these events are called as reunions. The overwhelming emotions would occur because everytime there was a reunion, there would be tons of catching up to do and each person would indulge in narrating a string of exciting key incidents that happened. It was all so personal.
I however believe this feeling will soon be dead and the coming generations would not understand how it felt to have a reunion. The reason is the advancement of communication in todays world. Way back in our parents or probably grandparents time, the only way to keep in touch would be through letters or snail mail as we call it. Hence, frequency was very low and limited people had information of you whereabouts. Thus, reunions would be an overwhelming outburst of emotions and tears would flow profusely in most cases. There was no visual or verbal interaction. Then came in the telephoneand made it possible for people to listen to each other while away. Reduced the apprehension among close relatives and made it easier to reach out to more people. Reunions were slightly less emotional affairs.
Then came the big shift of cell phones/internet/email which made it possible for people in our generation to keep in touch with a wider circle of people costantly. Verbal interactions were becoming very common and visual interaction was catching on. However, the odd running into long lost friends was still exciting and fun.
Now, we have facebook, blackberry messenger, mobile internet et all. In short, we have instant dissemination of information visually and verbally. I have all the people i possible every knew on my facebook. They passively get to know whats happening in my life through my updates, picture uploads etc. My parents can see me on skype almost everyday and can get a feel of my life. I can see my home back in India and almost feel the vibe. I can update my travel details on the social media front on a real time basis, relationship status of single, complicated, engaged, married etc can all be communicated to all. So now, when I meet a friend after a really long time, there is very little catching up to do. Almost all major happening narrations are greeted with a I know response. Saw your pics facebook, heard from xyz, read on your post, you told me on gtalk etc are the most common responses.
The meaning of 'out of touch' has already taken a whole new meaning. There is no physical presence associated with that term anymore. It probably means you were in a place with no access to internet or cell phones. The current generation would never be able to experience that joy of a traditional reunion.
Infact, when I imagine going back home, there is almost no catching up to be done. I saw the same thing happen on a recent 'reunion' i observed. The reunion exchanges were a 'blink and you miss' affair.
I am not saying the progress is not good. It has indeed done wonderful things to help us grow on a commercial as well as personal front. It has enabled us to cope with emotional apprehension while being away from home for long periods. It has drastically reduced the amount of emotional stress people face these days. (The last one is debatable in case of long distance relationships i suppose). However, it has changed somethings forever. Long live reunions!
