When was the last time you picked up your phone and called a family member or a friend? Most of us have one or two people with whom we maintain almost daily, uninterrupted contact. As for the rest of our social circles, their presence has largely been reduced to written messages, a few photos and stickers exchanged morning and evening, on Fridays, during holidays, and on special occasions—all through instant messaging apps or by sharing videos and content across social media platforms.
The irony is that what we now call “social communication” has, in many cases, become a form of social distancing. Our messages have become quick, brief, and impersonal—read and forgotten with barely a trace. And although these same apps offer voice communication, whether through calls or voice messages, we often avoid using them for various reasons: the desire for privacy, mental exhaustion, what might be called a decline in our “social energy,” or simply a lack of time.
The reasons may differ, but the result is the same: the absence of our voices from our everyday lives.
The human voice is not merely a means of communication or a way to convey information or news. It carries and conveys the full spectrum of human emotions. A brief tone of voice can say what pages of writing cannot, and a simple expression can restore warmth to a relationship that has quietly begun to grow cold between family members and loved ones.
Over time, we have become accustomed to exchanging words without truly sensing the thoughts and intentions hidden behind them—intentions that are often obscured by the ambiguity of written communication and can easily be interpreted in ways never intended by the person who wrote them.
The invitation here is not necessarily to return to long phone calls that require time and advance planning, but to take a simpler and more human step: send a short voice message. One minute can be enough to revive a sense of closeness and restore the human touch we have lost in dry, text-based communication.
Perhaps, in doing so, we can give our voices back their rightful place and restore the soul of communication—before it becomes nothing more than lifeless text, and we find ourselves forgetting the voices of those we love.