The world, as usual lately, was desperately trying to reach me yesterday. It called me, texted me, shoved mail through my mail slot, and sent me emails. One of the physical pieces of mail was actually relevant, a reminder to renew my museum membership; it was perhaps the fourth such reminder, though I don’t keep track. I am in the habit of ignoring phone calls from numbers I don’t know, typing “Stop” to instant messages from political candidates and nonprofits, and clicking on the “unsubscribe” link on emails, without thinking about it, because I like to keep my inboxes empty for no particular reason except that I loathe clutter and that free email services stop being free when your inbox is too full.

Some of the messages were from friends and family, so I couldn’t just ignore my inboxes.

This is normal. It’s so normal that we don’t even talk about it.

The world is trying to annoy me in a lot of other ways, as well, and this is also normal. I read Reddit to pass the time, and suddenly find I am sad and furious because it amuses people to tell each other off. Some of the people are, of course, inauthentic bots, but many of them are probably actual human beings. I quit Twitter and Facebook a long time ago because the fury there is more than I can handle, and may have to quit Reddit again.

Sometimes the calls, texts, and emails are trying make me feel guilty or sad. Frequently they are trying to trick me to get my money.

Again, normal.

Back in the 1990s, when I was in graduate school, being online suddenly became easy. I joined CompuServe and found the Star Trek forum, HOM-9, and suddenly I had friends. I also had a modem that screamed, and a dot matrix printer that also screamed, and my computer had a whole 20 meg hard drive. I was always at the forefront of personal computing, from the late 70s on, but it wasn’t until the early 90s that it became easy. I had been a Star Trek fan since the original series in the 60s, but I had always been alone in my fandom, so HOM-9 brought me a community. It was a silly place, but friendly, and supportive, for a very long time.

I had always believed that the new technologies would bring the world together and make it possible for people to get along. CompuServe validated that belief, for the first time, even though I had been tinkering with computers since the late 70s.

Technology hasn’t brought the world together in the way I expected, though.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t give it up right now. While I was writing this, I was texting with a friend; I text with a lot of friends, and with my family. I correspond by e-mail. I have been able to talk to people on the phone while wandering through a city in France, or from a plane high over the Atlantic. I wouldn’t want to lose ability to reach the people I care about, nor would I want to give up the ability to pay bills online or (occasionally) buy things I can’t get in retail stores.

But I don’t think any of this has brought people together. Our vast reach, allowing us to communicate at a great distance instantaneously, has made everyone awfully cranky, especially since most of the communications aren’t even from human beings any more.