How Long Should A Post Be? Communication Overload

I asked a friend for an honest opinion on this blog "so far". What he said was honest and I was thankful. "You wrote all that? Have you thought of writing a book?" In my enthusiasm, my posts have been, lets say just a little, lengthy. The trouble is that sometimes I don't know when to stop typing. I have so much to say.

I have come to the conclusion that this is the Law of Reflection in action and that this is the trouble with my communication, full stop. I talk too much too. I spend too much time on the phone and online and my conversations are usually extended. I join forums, blog, and communicate with strangers on Stumble Upon.(feel free to take at look at my pages http://melanie3i.stumbleupon.com/ ) I have lost count of the number of email addresses I have. I am guilty of over communicating. Is it such a bad thing? It is wonderful that I can communicate with people from all over the world, those who share similiar views and experiences and those who do not. I can let a friend or loved one know I am thinking of them at the push of a button. Whole movements against injustice and oppression can be mobilised on line. Today we can experience the ultimate in free expression. In this world of instant communication, people have 24 hour a day access to the Internet, we are contactable on our laptops, mobiles, by text and email. In short there is rarely a moment in the day when someone is unable to contact or be contacted.

Obviously I exercise some restraint. In this age of the communication explosion I find that my boundaries are more important than ever! I log on and turn my status to "appear offline". Sometimes I leave the answer machine on and don't answer my land line. ( I have even unplugged it when I didn't want the phone to ring and wake the baby! I switch off my mobile phone. Occasionally I leave the house without it because I want to be alone.

To be honest I rarely use my mobile to make calls, with the exception of the "I'd like a cab please" and "I'm leaving now, where shall I meet you?" calls and I keep calls I receive short and to the point because I believe that mobile phones are the new tobacco. I believe that the numbers of people experiencing cancers and other health problems will soar over the next few decades, and just like the tobacco industry has done for so many decades, the mobile phone companies will deny that there are any risks posed by the use of mobile phones and mobile phone transmitter masts. In the 50's almost everyone smoked. Nowadays everyone has a mobile phone. Imagine, some people have 3 or more mobile phones, a work mobile, a personal phone for friends and family and another for everybody else. (I just make do with one.) It horrifies me that some people give their children mobile phones, because unlike tobacco in its early years (doctors used to prescribe smoking to patients!!) the UK Government already admits that mobile phones pose a danger to children under the age of 14. I actually know someone who has given their 9 year old a mobile phone. I don't even like when people attempt to take pictures of my baby with their mobiles. I believe that eventually phones will come with government warnings for everyone, not just children, once (call me cynical) the cost of medical treatment and compensation claims exceeds the revenue of phones, calls and tariff sales. Take a look at these excerpt from this website which also raises the issue of risks posed by land line cordless phones: http://www.childrensfurniture.co.uk/phones.htmlms;

"It is not a question of whether these EMF (Electro Magnetic Frequency) Fields cause health problems or not, that is not in doubt. What is uncertain is just how this ill-health will manifest in an individual. What is certain, through even the most basic understanding of physics is that EMF's do weaken our energy fields and this will lead to some form of illness and disease in humans. Children, in particular, with their developing immune systems and ill or sick people are more prone to the effects of EM Radiation, and are, therefore, at risk the most . I am now convinced that EMF's pose a health hazard. There is statistical association between magnetic fields and cancer that goes beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt . I think there is clear evidence that exposure to EMF's increases the risk of cancer. This is most clear with leukaemia and brain tumours , but in residential studies statistical significance increased for all kinds of cancers. And we are just beginning to have a whole body of evidence that reproductive cancers are increased by exposure”. Dr David Carpenter, Dean of the State of New York School of Public Health"

"A Dutch study has suggested mobile phone use can affect brain function , and further research from Europe indicated radiation from the phones can cause DNA damage"

Needing to protect privacy and solitude is important but difficult to communicate to others."I phoned ten times, why weren't you answering your mobile I was worried?" or "how could you leave the house without your mobile phone?". Have you ever had the experience of someone phoning you on one phone, and when not getting you, phoning you on the other or sending an email. In work situations, sometimes people send an e-mail then call you to tell you that they have sent you an email. Have you ever had some-one do something like this to you or have you ever done anything like this to someone else. I have.

This communication overload is relatively new. Without meaning to sound decrepit, I remember when computers were rare and took a degree in computer programming to do anything more complex than load a computer game, when not everybody had a telephone and mobiles did not exist. You could go out and the only way people would only be able to communicate with you would be if they saw you in person. Families sat round the table to eat their meal and talked to one another. (remember face to face communication within the family that wasn't in front of the telly or PlayStation?) People actually wrote letters too. In some ways there was something more relaxed and easy about being able to do your own thing without checking your phone or email account every 5 minutes - 30 minutes depending on your personal preference. With all this communicating, ironically, we as individuals are losing the ability to listen to one another.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about to unplug my computer, ditch the mobile, throw away the telly, cut off the land line and stop reading the newspaper, but I do feel the need to streamline. All this communication feels like there isn't enough time to for just being me or conversely, to connect with the people that are close to me. After all, I just can't help feeling that all this external communication diverts me from my inner communication, and my inner journey is what inspires me and gives me something to communicate in the first place. Its when I am still that I am able to receive the answers that truly guide me. Its time to simplify. My blog posts might not be so lengthy. I might actually go and visit some friends. You can still send me an email, or give me a call, but I might not get back to you straight away. I will be selectively incommunicado. I have decided less is more. After all its the quality that counts, not the quantity