An anthropologist explains how smartphones have gradually replaced our every conversation with communication - a radically different concept. Once upon a time, human relationships unfolded without smartphones. The reality may be hard to recall, so profoundly have these devices transformed the way we relate to the world and others in 15 years or so.
As an anthropologist interested in modernity, I am particularly preoccupied by the impact of these devices on our conversations . In my book The End of the Conversation? Words in a Spectral Society (French original: La Fin de la Conversation? La Parole Dans une Société Spectrale ), I investigate the pernicious effects of this technology on our social fabric , and make a point of distinguishing conversation from communication. Communication is not conversation When I’m communicating, my relationship with another is usually mediated via a screen.
Communication calls to mind notions of distance, physical absence and, by extension, frazzled attention. The age of communication induces feelings that everything is going too fast and we have no more time to ourselves. The next notification, message or call is always only a moment away, keeping us in a state of restless alertness.
Conversations, on the other hand, are often free. One chats while enjoying a stroll or meeting a new person, sharing words like one breaks bread. While communication does away with the body, conversation calls for mutual presence, attention to the other pers.