So I was driving down the hill towards town yesterday, when I met a group of four motorcycles, coming the other way. Out for a Saturday ride, just for the general hell of it. It was a beautiful day; later it got windy and cold, but stayed clear and self- aware. I thought People used to take drives in the afternoon, just for pleasure, in all sorts of cars. Now, it’s mostly just the bikers. This made me think about trends in human interaction, which began long before even my time, and I can remember rotary phones and five digit phone numbers.

People used to go visiting unannounced, and nobody minded much because they weren’t all that busy. Coffee was made, or tea, or cold drinks produced from the fridge. Then we got busy. Visiting was done subsequent to a phone call. Then, since folks were on the phone anyway, the call replaced the visit. When was the last time you spent time at a friend’s house for no good reason but conversation – to catch up on the news of her life?

Life got busier again, and we all got answering machines. And over the years, the epistolary tradition, in which some of us happily participated, became as much a burden as the unannounced visit. We stopped writing letters. We got together on the phone, usually after the obligatory game of tag with our machines, and forgot each others’ faces.

I like writing to people because I can think of a lot more to say when I’m alone and not trying to think of things to say. I like e-mail because it goes now, gets there now, and there’s no paper, envelopes, and stamps involved. Which is a shame if you think about it. I have some nice stationery, fountain pens, bottled ink, just sitting there. Back before we all got computers, my Mom had some good stationery made for me, with the silhouette of a sea bird rampant. See it on this blog? … I know you get it.

Well, now e-mail’s less fun, huh? There’s so much spam and believe it or not life is even busier. I know this because some of my e-mails to good friends are going unanswered. None of my friends are assholes, so they must be busy. We have instant messaging, but who has time to sit there while the other person types? We’re all married to our cell phones, but the new will wear off of that too. We’ll get bored with it, and busier, and short of having com chips implanted in our cerebral cortices or evolving Web-enabled telepathy – powered by Google – what’s next?

Listen, if you’re thinking of stopping by unannounced, stop at Starbucks, OK?