In this modern age, everyone rely on technology to speed up almost everything. From communication, business, studies and even building our relationship, we all do it over Internet. Snail mail? Does it still exist? Seriously, I haven’t received snail mail in ages. The last time I received one was when mobile phones are not yet allowed in Saudi Arabia and that was from my mother who was very worried about her 21-year old daughter’s whereabout and that was me. That was long time ago, 13 years to be exact. So by now, you are may be calculating my age huh! Yeah right!
You might not be from Earth if you don’t have email address by now. The fact that you are reading this post means you have access to Internet. You must have either Yahoo, Google, Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumbler, LinkedIn or WordPress account for that. Do we really noticed about salutation in each mail we received or sent? Do we still care about these things that seems trivial nowadays because our relationship tends to get on a different level of closeness? We received and sent mails even to people we hardly know or sometimes even to strangers and robots.
Thanks to smartphones that we no longer wait to come home to check for our emails on our computers. As long you have the Internet connection, mails will automatically go through your phone. An annoying sound that notifies you about emails delivered to your inbox would irritate your boss because he know you’ll take your phone out from your pocket to check the sender and would be temporary out of your mind while work are piling up at your desk. Oh! You have notifications from Facebook! John, Peter, Mary liked your status. Jenny commented on your photo and said you were awesome. You replied right away, thanks you said with a smiley emoticon. You have new followers on Instagram and Pinterest. A stranger retweeted your tweet and there you go checking the profile of this stranger. You received a mail from a billionaire who says he wants to keep his inheritance on your bank account for security reason. You won lottery which you never participated in. So on and so forth. Can you imagine life without emails? Of course, we still can. But seriously, in this modern age, it’s hard to. Imagine paying bills waiting in long queue, sending your résumé and credentials through courier when you want to apply for a job. Buying your favorite book in Amazon or doing shopping online. You need emails in doing all these transactions.
I love Internet. I love social networks. As a result, I received a lot of emails everyday. Spams sometimes. I too send a lot of mails everyday as replies. Do I used salutation each time I send a mail? The Daily Post Weekly Writing Challenge:Mind The Gap made me ponder on this issue thus prompted me to participate. How much courtesy are we losing in exchange of socialization? How much respect is still left on us with this virtual relationship that Internet build for us?
Growing up in 80′s in war-stricken southernmost part of the Mindanao, Philippines, little do I know about technology. Parents are too busy providing food to give their children decent meals that they care less about gadgets and technology. Television set was our most valued possession, the one with wooden casing along the sides which look more of a chest box if not for its thick glass screen and back hump. Not only that! There was no channel stations and so we should rent VHS tapes of previously shown episodes from TV networks in Manila. We could only watch TV programs a week later after it was aired in its network. Yes! That was the least time of waiting, that is if you are lucky enough because since everyone had been waiting to watch their favorite show, sometimes you couldn’t find any tape to rent out. That was technology to us. That was entertainment.
At home and in school, we were thought about respect. Filipinos are very particular in addressing names. We can’t call someone older than us by his first name or nick name. That is a no no! In every dialect ( Filipinos have more than 70 local dialects), there are terms assigned to address younger and older people. Yeah! That is how courteous we are. But if you would ask me, if I applied this salutations when I send mails to my contacts and strangers? I’m afraid no. Not all the time. The world is too complicated for a single strategy. It depends who I’m writing to.
Say for example, I want to send mail to a reader who liked most of my posts on WordPress. Save from her About Page, she’s a stranger to me. If she don’t put her picture in the About Me section, I don’t even know how she look like. On that level, even if I don’t know her, I would assumed she’s a cool woman and would treat her like a friend and I would again assumed she will appreciate if I start the conversation with a hi or hello there. In the case if someone else started the conversation, I would start off my mail with the same salutation he or she addressed me with. For me that’s fair enough. If I’m sending mails to my friends regardless of age, I am dropping off the formality and would begin it like our normal conversation do. However, if I’m sending mail to someone I know who is older than me or a formal email at that even if he or she is a lot younger than me, then in every way, I used the proper salutation like Sir, Madam, Doctor, Ms., Mr., and so on.
I couldn’t think of a better way to end this post but to remind ourselves that even how advanced our life may be now, it’s still a good thing to look back to our past and take out a little of good things that has already been buried. That is RESPECT.
