Communication

Wednesday my mother-in-law calls. The conversation goes something like this:
mom:"So your mom told me about your dad."
me: "What about my dad?"
mom: "About him going to the doctor....."
me: "what? You mean my grandpa?" (my grandpa had a heart attack last week)
mom: "no. pause. Im sure that your mom will tell you tomorrow when she calls. Don't worry its nothing."

Ok I let it drop knowing that my own mom would call me the next day and we would be able to go over everything then. That and I knew I was going to get nothing out of my mother-in-law.

Thursday. My mom actually called while I was still teaching piano. The conversation went something like this:
me: "Im not quite done with lessons. Ill call you back in 15."
mom: "No big deal Im going to go make dinner. I can just catch up with you next week, there is not much going on here."
me: "Why don't you call me later cause I think there are some things that you need to talk to me about."
mom: "I do?"
me: "HEELLLO----Dad went to the doctor and you have already told my mother-in-law that something is up."
mom: sounding sheepish "Oh, yeah. Ok call me later and we'll talk."

See the problem is my mom and my mother-in-law email all the time. My mom and I don't email so much as talk on the phone. Same with my mother-in-law and me. I email occasionally but up until recently we only had one computer and with three people in the house and an occasional exchange student, computer time was at a premium and not something that I got all that much of. Now with the lap top I tend to email more but I still prefer to hear my mom's voice.

As it turns out my mom had told my mother-in-law that my dad had received the diagnosis of diabetes something that now both my dad and my dad-in-law both share. my dad now has to go in for a "liver scan", his blood pressure is up (yeah mine would be up too if I just quit my job to live with my geriatric in-laws who do not seem grateful), and his cholesterol is also up. All of this is apparently no big deal.

I will give my family credit when my grandfather had his heart attack on Thursday my mom called right away. She also called on Friday after the specialist had seen him and again on Sunday to let me know that he was home from the hospital.

What I want to know is this: Has email caused families to change the way they communicate, forgetting what they have told some, forgetting to tell others anything, calling some, emailing others? Has email enhanced how families communicate or caused a break down in communication? They call it technology advancements but is it really an advancement if it is breaking down some forms of other communication?