In my experience, when you bother to go the extra mile for somebody else they feel compelled to do the same for you. And if you have a relationship like this with the people you talk to, you're going to have better, stronger, and more worthwhile conversations and discussions often. Not typical, chit chatter. This just as much applies to our offline lives as well.
It may seem like obvious statement, but too many underestimate this and have weak and poor discussions and poor social skills because of it. Oh, how much we could learn about someone else if we'd try to listen more intently.
We live in an age where 'I needed my information yesterday!', and everyone is in some hurry, jumping from conversation to conversation like its the end of the world, running around like a chicken without a head. Rather than evolving and learning, they devolve an regress.
They need their talks to be shorter, faster, quicker, and less complicated. If its more than 3 paragraphs they exagerate and complain that it's a book or something and they don't have time for it (but when you add the time they're spending on the net anyways with these hit and run comments, it adds up to more than that one conversation would have cost them). People have literally lost their tolerance and patience and have trained themselves to not be able to visually digest larger ammounts of information and I think they're poorer for it.
It makes them intolerant, easily set off and intimidated and dismayed, and they see it as a challenge rather than an opportunity to share their opinion and possibly make an impression or gain respect. A converstation becomes an obstacle, and an opinion becomes a weight they have to lift.
I guess what I'm saying is, the internet and its 'stop and go IM chit chat, talk to you later I've got tons of other $hit to do culture' is robbing us from truely enjoying eachother's company, and its creating a slow, dim-witted people (who abbriviate everything and are barely talking english because they're lazy) who don't exercise perhaps the greatest gift of all among humans- communication. People get to express themselves this way more fully and when they get to express themselves in a more deeper way, they're more happy because they got to get it off their chest exactly as they wanted to and in a way they can be proud of. They don't feel cheated or like they had more to say but lost their chance.
We need to slow down and enjoy the moment and spend time with it, not run an internet marathon around it. It's quality of time spent on the net that matters, not quantity.
