Deborah Tannen's "Connections"

Deborah Tannen’s “Connections” reflects on technological progress within the past 50+ years. It speaks of how technology has influenced our lives and the lives of the people we love. She writes of what can be gained and lost within the realm of technological advancement and speaks of how communication is affected in these ways.
Her father, when young, went through the alteration from the telephone to e-mail to instant messaging – the true enhancement of technology. He experienced the transition from the telephone to e-mail while he was away, across country. He mentioned that to his family, e-mail was accepted and appreciated much more, and he was surprised at this. He assumed the telephone was the most personal, the most connected. However, his family states that e-mail was easier for them to communicate with him. It could be at any time, day or night, and they state that they could enclose private information and personal thoughts when writing e-mail, something they felt uncomfortable doing over telephone.
Tannen writes, “E-mail makes possible connections with relatives, acquaintances, or strangers, that wouldn’t otherwise exist.” This statement insists that our technological advances has had and still does affect the people in our lives as well as our own. It allows for communication to continue and it creates a network for people to stay connected and close to the friends and family they love.
Whereas technology has enhanced the way we live, many argue that it also has hindered the way we communicate – that people hardly talk anymore because it’s all about e-mail or instant messaging. They argue, “How can anymore express emotions over a computer screen?” Can You? I believe that amongst the technological advances of our time, there are good and bad outcomes. Many can’t find a way to communicate at all whereas others believe it solves their problems of estrangements in their lives. Technology can save a family, whereas some believe it only tears them apart. I believe that with change come compromise and patience. With both, anyone can live happily.