Modern communication

I work in an office and use all kinds of technologies to keep in touch - mobile, sms, skype and email.

Sometimes I'll ping people in the office a quick Skype message to ask how they are going or for a quick clarification on something.

Sometimes I use it to have a conversation that might be too awkward to have face to face. I did that this morning when I noticed a collegue who seemed a bit down, but I knew if I asked him face to face in an office he would probably just go - 'yeah I'm ok'. So I sent the message and got nothing back. So now how do I talk to him without mentioning it ?

Do we both ignore it and pretent it didn't happen, or do I wait till he goes somewhere and ambush him ? Hmmm, not really confortable with that.

Maybe I should just mind my own buisness, but as a friend I want to know if I could do anything to help. Sometimes I thing how great it would be to work in an office in the 60s where there were no faxes or emails or even phones. I could spent my day writing letters and reading mail people sent. Life must have been so much slower and more controlled instead of the constant blast of data and communications we are under now.

There was a promo on TV recently that stated that a child by the age of 8 had been exposed to more information that our great grandparents were exposed to in their entire lives. Thats a scary thought.