Communication

P e o p l e, has always been searching ways to communicate with each other; yes, even since from The Paleolithic Age right till now. One way of communication is through languages. From "uh-uh-ah-gah" (probably that was the languages' ancestors) advancing until the 'proper' language most people can understand; English, Spanish, Mandarin, French, German, Malay, Tamil, etc. Even so, there's always some kind of words, incidents, actions or events that we couldn't describe it precisely. The respondents therefore must understand by a)making guesses what we are trying to say using common senses or b) we have to use all sorts of 'tai chis' and 'hand dancing' i.e the hand gestures, to explain it. That, is what we known as non-verbal communication.

As we are now not only be able to communicate with each other in such an advanced era of telecommunication, equipped with telephones, faxes, e-mails and yes, our dearest amongst all that most people couldn't live without it - cellphones. From a big version of 'dai gor dai' or more commonly known as the greatest grandfather of cellphones, this brilliant technology has evolved into smaller and smaller sizes yet more and more functions engage into this innovation. From the main idea of Alexander Graham Bell of saying 'hello' to the caller on the other side of the world; today we are able to send texts, emails, pictures, voicemails, audio files, and so much more.

However, as i'm not a techny-girl, (i had never PS1, PS2, Ps3, PsP, X-boxing, Wii-ing, or Gameboy-ing since from the day i was born NOR do i care how does an MMS work) So to me, when 3G became the latest topic in the world; quite some long time ago, i don't really think there's a difference between seeing them on the screen and talk to them OR talking to them without looking at the person)

They said the reason 3G is created so that people can talk and know that they are talking to the right person, and for parents to check that whether their children are in the tuition centres or not. People won't be missing their partners because they can actually see them on the screen instead of just listening to their voices. And these reasons weren't as strong for people like me to regard this as the greatest achievement for cellphone generations yet. Not until that day.

This is a true story.

Year 2007: When 3G became global.

One rainy day, I was sitting in a public bus on my way back home. Not long came a student (girl), around my age, who sat next to me. She then took out her pricy cellphone and she started to make phone calls, using loudspeaker. (I'm sure you all know what is that). Not suprising right? But sitting in the bus for 1 hour is a mind-numbing thing to do. So i 'accidently' peeped on her cellphone screen. In my mind i said: Oh! She's communicating with her friend using 3G. Then i thought she was trying to show off with the technology as it was a really a new thing, and not many people were using it that time. I saw her showing her friend a soft toy; and smilling away. To my much surprise later, she was showing some hand movements. Then something struck me. Her friend on the screen has also responded her back using sign languages! The next minute, i was ashamed with myself. I thought; how could i ever thought of accusing people of showing off; for i do not being observant enough to notice that the girl who sat next to me has never uttered any words before?
Lessons i have learnt: 1) Never make a conclusion of one person's personalities if you do not know them.
2) 3G is somehow useful afterall.

Out of so many reasons for people to think of when 3G surfaced in the global communication, they want to make everything into one piece, doing more than just to make phone calls, etc etc. In the end, the whole advancing communication technology still come back with the sole reason of our great great great great grandfather's grandfather's grandfathers' uh-uh-ah-gahs': To be able to communicate with each other.


Cheers,
Jaime.