Postcard from Bishkek

In the far off days of my youth, getting letters was something that happened quite rarely … it was quite an event.

“Snail mail” was the only option open to us, (apart from the telephone, but we only got a telephone late on), and it took a couple of days for letters to arrive – longer if they were from abroad.  We thought long and hard about what to write … unless it was a postcard, (a real “postcard” that it), in which case it was a short message of the “Wish you were here!” type.

How things have changed … all thanks to the internet.

I remember getting my first email account … I didn’t use it much, there weren’t that many people with email accounts in those days, but as a computing teacher, (later that became an IT teacher and now it is referred top as “teacher of CIT” – communications and Information Technology), I was more or less expected to have one.

I can’t say I was that impressed … I am not sure that I like reading off the screen – I much prefer to have a piece of paper in my hand and to carry it with me as I walk around the room taking in the details as I scan the words … however, when I came out here, I soon became a real fan of the technology.  The post took ages to arrive, if the letter didn’t get lost en-route, a telephone call was expensive and the quality not always very good and half of the conversation would go something like: “what did you say? … crackle … can you say the again? … crackle …

Email was a real boon, especially when it came to trying to do business.  Instead of having to rely on letter, phone and fax, we could communicate so much more easily … not only with relatives and friends but clients, (foreign firms abroad and individual clients), service providers and even (occasionally) with the authorities.

There were, (and still are), problems.  For example, people have got used to the speed in which messages are delivered and have come to expect instant responses.  More to the point, many are not as careful with their emails as they used to be with letters … and their messages often read as if it is half of a telephone conversation.   As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Then, along came a meteoric rise in the number of websites, blogs, vlogs and forums … and the phenomenon known as “social media” … services like skype, ICQ, messenger,  Facebook, Myspace, you tube, tripadvisor and twitter … and as a result, nowadays, almost anyone can be a “publisher” and reach millions of people with their news and views … even me!

As with the advent of email, at first I was not that impressed with the idea of blogs, vlogs and the other forms of social media.

I have had people suggest that I use one of the ICQ messaging services … and although, over the years, I have signed up to two or three, I found that I was using each one for contacting just one person … and so, one by one, I let them go and deleted the software, (which was taking up valuable space on my hard drive), from my computer.

So, when a friend emailed me from New Zealand and suggested that I get Skype, I wasn’t that keen.  I thought it was going to be just another messaging system.  However, I gave in and downloaded it.   In fact, I have been quite impressed with it, apart from a few things …

Apart from the fact that Skype is really good for talking, chatting or messaging people in far away places like New Zealand, Britain … or even the other side of Bishkek, I find it really annoying when people skype me when they are sitting in the next room.  In reply I often get up out of my chair and walk into the next room and, as a result, we hold a “real” conversation which I think is more useful and more effective as a means of communication

I have come to hate the “pinging” sound which the computer emits every time someone sends me a message – especially the “ping … ping … ping” as someone hits the enter button after every phrase, rather than waiting until the finish the sentence.  That’s a minor problem, however, because I usually have the sound on my computer turned down, (or off).

However, just as with email there is a pressure to expect or give an instant response and type something without really thinking it through.  When people, (and I include myself in this), say something under pressure, they can make make mistakes or something that can easily be misinterpreted.  We forget that that every message has at least two forms … the message that was sent, and the message that is received.  They may be word for the same – but the  In a conversation, you can pick up non-verbal signals from the other person that you to interpret the meaning of what is being said … even in a telephone conversation you can pick up signals from the speakers tone of voice.  All of this additional information is missing when you have just the text … the words on the piece of paper or on the computer screen … in from of your eyes.  As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Still, having said that, I still find Skype very useful and convenient.

Facebook and other social media platforms were another thing, altogether …

Some years ago I got a message from an old school friend who was a member of one of these websites and so, on his recommendation, I went to have a look at it.  Of course, you had to sign up … and so I created a basic profile … and had a look round.  The site looked interesting and I was pleased to see some old friends were members but it was basically a “paysite” and there were problems at the time in sending money to the site operators in the UK, so I basically forgot about it.  I still get regular messages from them, however, giving me an update of the number of people who have signed up and also offering new services.

Later, a colleague from Uzbekistan suggested that I join a “business connections” social network … and once again, I went and had a look.  Again, it seemed interesting … with lots of subscribers … and, once again, you had to sign up … so I created a basic profile … had a look round.  It looked interesting, but there were few people that I knew and most of the members seemed to be far, far away and working in different fields … finance, engineering and especially in IT, so I more or less forgot about it.  I still, occasionally, get a message from the site saying that so-and-so wants to connect with me, but because I used the site so rarely I, somehow, managed to end up with two accounts.  That got really confusing … each time I did manage to log on I noticed that there were different sets of “friends”.  Eventually I managed to get them to close one account and transfer all the friends in it to the other one … but that wasn’t easy.

So, when one of our staff returned after a year studying in the states, and started raving over Facebook … I wasn’t that keen.  I thought it was going to be like the other services that I had signed up for … but, like everyone else in the office, I went and had a look.  Once again, to have a good look round and get an idea of what the site had to offer, you had to sign up … so I created a basic profile … and had a look round.  It looked interesting, but I came to the conclusion that I was right … basically, it was just like the others … and so I would have forgotten about it … except for the fact that I got the occasional message saying that so-and-so wanted to to be my “friend”.  Most of these messages were from people I did not know, (they had “found” me through the “friend finder” service), and so I tended to just ignore these messages just as I did with messages from the other networking services.  The one day, came a “bolt from the blue”.  A message from someone whom I knew quite well – a family member.

Well, since then, I have taken a closer interest and nearly everyday log in to see what my “friends” have been getting up to.

To be honest, I am a bit surprised about some of the things that I see posted on some pages … especially, for example, those associated with schools where I used to teach.  Although I quite enjoyed the Facebook page 50 WAYS TO MAKE A TEACHER WANT TO HIT YOU!, I am glad I am not a teacher having to cope with some of the comments I have seen posted on this or that person’s page.

One “friend” posted a question on her page about Kyrgyzstan … I replied, but I was conscious that it was a “public” comment … anyone and everyone could read it.  It seems to me that, (from some of the comments I see on this page or that), many users forget this. The site offers a number of options ranging from sending “public” messages that can be read by all and sundry, being able to restrict messages so that they can be read only by “friends”, being able to send private messages to individuals and holding a private “chat”.  It seems to me important to choose the right option for the message you want to send.  As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Twitter is an interesting phenomenon … At the moment I maintain a couple of twitter accounts.  I confess, however, that I am still not certain about the usefulness of sending lots of little messages, limited to a maximum of 140 characters although I do find that limit a interesting challenge.  That’s shorter than most messaging services allow and forces me to think carefully about what I want to say and how best to say it.

I suppose that the main advantage of Twitter is that it is a good way of making short announcements available to a large number of people … but as I always end up with screen after screen of such messages – from “following” less than a dozen people, I can’t help wondering how those who “follow” hundreds of other “tweeters” cope.

There is one thing about the site that I find annoying: the messages which are posted that seem inane and banal.  Some authors seem to get a kick out of being silly or trying to shock their audience.

Nowadays, thanks to the internet and social media, almost anyone can be a “publisher” and reach millions of people with their news and views … even me!   There has been a lot of articles in the media about the use of social media and at one time, as an IT teacher, I would have looked at them with a professional interest.   Since then, however, until recently, I would have passed them by without a second glance.  These days, as a user, I tend to take a greater interest.

Amongst the many issues raised in these articles, especially the question of privacy.  It seems to me however, that one of the main issues is that “responsibility” … taking responsibility for what you put into the public arena … what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to.

In the days of “snail mail”, we thought long and hard about what to write … our letters were physical and went only to the addressee … Of course we are now living in a different world … the pace of life is faster and people want, expect, instant responses, instant gratification … but it seems to me that some things haven’t changed.  Just as in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what we want to say, how we are going to say it … and who is going to read what we say.

I, for one, always try to bear that in mind.

Tags: Expat, internet, Social_Media