It's good to talk

I was thinking this morning how much communication has changed even in my lifetime with the introduction and explosion of the Internet. Combined with emails, mobile phones, text messaging, Skype, social networking and smart phones, communication has never been easier and we have never been better connected.  All of these devices are designed to make keeping in touch easier and to give us more free time by communicating more effectively and working smarter together.

But if you stop and think about it for a little while I really don't think that they do give us any more free time or an easier lifestyle, if anything they actually rob us of our free time. With the reliance on mobile phones we are virtual never out of contact and with laptops, smart phones, PDAs, I-Pods and Pads our emails follow us where ever we go and so does our work. We have very quickly moved from being at work nine till five to being in a situation where we never really switch off.

In the midst of all this communicating we rarely get chance to actually talk; to stop, down tools and spend time talking to the people closest to us, our friends, families and loved ones. With 11 percent of UK marriages ending in divorce and the highest percentage of them being couples in their twenties a common reason given is "we just don't talk anymore". Think about how many of your school friends you are still in touch with, how many of your extended family you are in contact with more than just at birthdays and Christmas. I would hazard a guess that the main reason we lose touch and drift away from old friends and distant family is that we just don't have time to keep in contact.

In the old BT adverts Bob Hoskins had the catchphrase "it's good to talk" and guess that, he was right, it is good to talk. Take some time out of your busy day to spend even five minutes have a genuine conversation with someone, over lunch, over a latte or over the desk. But turn off the TV, turn off your mobile (or put it on silent if you're scared to turn it off) and have a face to face old fashioned chat. A conversation without an agenda or one that needs minuting with no other motive than to natter about their day and yours.

The bible tells us that it is good when people live together in unity and I would suggest that one of the very first steps towards achieving that unity is to talk. In a 24/7 world when we are always on call, always thinking about work and the next challenge or dead-line. We can only hope to stay united; in friendships, marriages, families and churches if we make the effort and become committed to talking to one another.

Have a great day.

God Bless.

Chris