Art of Conversation

Have Americans lost the art of conversation? We blog, text, fire off pithy emails, tweet and tweak our images on Facebook. But do we really know how to communicate anymore?

Contact lens specialist Pat Foster of Cary was scoffing at her ornery computer the other day and said: “When I retire I don’t know if I will ever turn on a computer again.”

Pat has a radiant personality and she uses it well in one-on-one conversations. She worries that society today is too absorbed with technological communication. Pat says the sweetness of personal conversation on front porches is dying out. She can’t remember the last time she received a hand-written letter from a friend. She says her children have no interest in family stories. Everything is quick, urgent and now!

Is Pat right? What do you think? Is the art of conversation dead?