It's still hard for me to imagine a world without handwriting, but this video from BBC and its emphasis on nostalgia make me wonder if insisting on handwriting will someday prevent us from realizing and appreciating new forms of communication and intimacy.
Demonstration of a remarkable prosthetic device controlled by an iPhone.
The Atlantic brought the topic of communicating with your doctor electronically. Not long after, Bertalan Mesko's TEDx talk argued for a future in which doctors and patients could Tweet and touch.
And yesterday, Dr Atul Gawande got a range of opinions at Twitter, asking "Should doctors Friend patients on Facebook? Should they text patients?" I've captured a broad range of the responses he received at Storify.
I don't know exactly where I come down on this issue. I think being able to get in touch by email would be remarkably convenient, would deepen the relationship, and would probably help me be a better patient. But I've always wondered if doctors would be able to handle the volume of communication they'd receive and how doctors and patients would handle concerns about the timeliness of responses, people feeling their questions deserved an answer more quickly.“A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.” j.mp/XpiLNB
— Maria Popova (@brainpicker) April 11, 2013
Frederic Brussat posts an interesting article pointing out that face-to-face communications can improve your health. Brussat's conclusion—put down your devices and extend your hand to someone for the benefit of your health—and the accompanying post somehow seem more compelling to me than the many posts about the Internet Sabbath I've already seen. Even though research is cited here, this is more urgent and more personal than the somewhat more abstract arguments I've looked at before.