The other day I was in the office all day and had many lively conversations and not once did I open my mouth. All of those conversations were through Twitter, Facebook, and conventional email. And while I was productive and shared ideas, it was all a bit unsatisfying.
In a world of digital networking and social media, there is something about picking up the phone or sitting down with someone live and having an exchange of ideas and experiences. And while I am certainly no Luddite, it did make me wonder if all of these marvelous tools that we now have to communicate are really helping us communicate any better than we ever did. Being able to communicate with people all over the globe instantly is truly a wonder as is being able to have so much information right at your fingertips. But we have to be sure we don’t lose our ability to have conversations that are more than 140 characters. I sometimes wonder if the fact that we don’t have to face people directly to have a conversation contributes to the greater rudeness in our society. And I think it makes it hard for people to express themselves well.
Just now I had to call a doctor’s office for a relative and I asked for a certain person and before I could say anything, I was transferred to someone else whom I didn’t know there. So I hung up, called back and the person then explained that the person I asked for was out for two weeks. I wondered why she just couldn’t have said so.
In this age of multi-tasking and rapid fire communications, let’s remember that we’re not just sharing pixels but lots of intangibles. So every now and again, pick up the phone, walk down the hall and talk to someone directly.
