Communication Malfunction

Jessica Morgan, 16, England

As I sit, surrounded by modern technology, and somewhere in the distance there is the obscure ring of a child's mobile phone, I realize how much the world has changed, even in my lifetime.

I live in England, and at school am taught about all the latest advances that are shaping our futures. My friends sit idly in lessons, sending each other text messages to relieve boredom, and listening to their portable CD players. I try to imagine what the atmosphere would be like if I were listening to the sound of people talking, and being concerned about one another, instead of the mindless systematic drone to which we have become so accustomed. I glance up at the aging teacher, who sits looking forlornly at the class and wonders when it was she was left behind.

There is, so I'm told, no other country with such a great knowledge of communication. I'm assured I'm lucky to be surrounded by such brilliant business people and scientists. However, as I walk down a busy street in a city center, I smile at a few of these 'amazing' people, who look slightly confused, then turn away in the hope that I'm not looking at them, but at someone behind them. It makes me realize that these people, who are in control of my country's communication, know nothing more than some complicated technological minutiae.

I enter a chat room whilst 'surfing the net', and contemplate the various people that approach me. How many of them are willing to disclose any truthful information? I guess that the eighteen-year-old male who is currently backpacking round Australia is, in reality, a twelve-year-old, who should be doing homework, but is desperately trying to drown out the horrendous sound of his parents' constant arguing. I doubt that any of these individuals, who are currently participating in this ultramodern method of meeting people, are using their real names, or describing their real appearance. Could it be that despite the Internet being sold as a method of communication, it is merely mankind's latest stage, in which people put on masks and perform?

Communication surely must involve direct eye contact, a smile, or even an embrace without feeling awkward or uncomfortable. How can a country claim to be the world's premiere communicators when we are unable to look a stranger in the eyes and smile if we are over ten years old?

I know that my country is viewed by many as a land of opportunity and a land of hope. I can't understand how a society that thinks the currency for happiness is money could ever expect to move forward. Our goals and ambitions have become no more than high salaries to pay for material objects that show the people we pass by how wealthy we are. How can these people expect to be happy without someone to smile at, someone to care about.

We are taught to aspire to be like these people, recognized by the rest of the world as an advanced people with faxes, e-mail, mobile phones and pagers. We are told that as the business people and scientists of tomorrow it is our job to maintain and advance England's lead over the world in communication. I doubt that there is a group of people anywhere in the world with a deeper need to learn about the art of communication.

I can only hope and pray that the people around me start to notice each other, and put their arrogance aside long enough to notice how poor we are in comparison with the rest of the world.