Why We Don't Talk to Each Other Anymore: The de-Voicing of Society

We Have Arrived at the Information Age -- But Not in Person

E-mail, voice mail, fax machines, beepers. Technology is overwhelming us with information, driving out the sound of human voices. We have gained the advantage of nearly constant interaction with others but make only partial connections; in the process, we are losing something precious. In this witty and intelligent book, prominent psycholinguist John Locke takes a hard look at what we are really missing as intimate forms of self-expression vanish.

Talking is the way we build and maintain relationships. Talking is the way that we learn to trust one another. But we now spend our days exchanging electronic factoids, leaving us little time to "just talk." Without intimate conversation, we can't really know others well enough to trust them or work with them harmoniously. We even lose track of our own selves -- our sense of humor, our own particular way of looking at things. We become lonely.

Keenly perceptive and though-provoking, Why We Don't Talk to Each Other Anymore is a provocative look at how we live with -- and without -- one another.