Talking to a colleague sitting next to you through instant messaging instead of vocal communication, mass texting friends and relatives with downloaded festival greetings instead of calling them in person, e-mailing work reports to your boss without worrying about getting punched in the face and saving printing resources for your company at the same time. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Yes, this is what we are doing every day. We’ve come into the mute age.

跟邻桌同事商量事情不用张口，而用MSN之类的聊天工具；逢年过节亲朋好友问候，不再用昂贵的长途电话，改成了群发网上下载的祝福短信；工作汇报也不必浪费公司纸张油墨、不必担心老板脸色，一封邮件统统搞定。以上描述的这些场景你觉得熟悉吗？对，这就是我们每天都在做的事情。我们已经进入了“默声”时代。