The danger of disconnecting
Tim Slatter
Helping financial planners keep in touch with their clients. | Making it happen, making it work; making a difference. | Online communication ameliorator. | Websites, blogs and email campaigns.
Using technology is becoming easier and easier. In fact, when I write emails in gmail, the AI interface starts to finish my sentences for me. Literally.
For a few years now, social media has been delivering more adverts that the platform believes you would prefer to see. So instead of trying to sell ice to Eskimos, they'll punt the snow shoes that your husband is looking for - or a new dog bed that sleeps up to eight huskies.
We used to engage with technology, but now it engages with us.
The danger is not in disconnecting from technology - the danger is in disconnecting from the people around us.
We're fed the latest info on our friends' kids, families, jobs, holidays and more (it's literally called our social media feed... think about that for a second...). So, when we see them, what do we really talk about?
When it's time for conversation - we think we know all that we need to know, so we land up talking about the veneer of life. We are not edified - which is why we generally pick up our phone again and look for some more feed - and have extra veneer for dessert.
There are huge benefits to knowing what's going on around us, but not when the information overload causes us to disconnect from people and forget how to have enriching and engaging conversations. Or, when our desire to jump back into our virtual spaces pulls us out of our physical ones.
How many times have you been at a function where people are more present on their devices than in the room with you?
When technology is already starting to finish our sentences for us, we need to up our game. When social media is keeping us in the peripherals of life and conditioning us to avoid deeper conversations, we need to learn to ask better questions and explore the (sometimes awkward) emotional content that we're putting out there.
The aim of technology has always been for the betterment of life, not to replace its essence.
How are you using technology (and social media) to have better conversations with those who add value to your life?
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Tim Slatter (of Slatter Communications) and his team help financial advisers create, implement and deliver engaging brand stories through websites, blogs, email campaigns and social media.
contatto.co.za - websites, blogs and newsletters for financial advisers
Programmes Engagement coordinator at CIPFA
5 年Very eloquently put sir. Well done.
South Africa
5 年Perhaps we will evolve and become creators of new and wonderful things when we don't have to serve one another between class systems. Who knows. I'm not for it or against it. I just know that when change of consciousness comes into effect very little will have an impact of preventing it
Life Coach - promoting a Well Being Lifestyle.
5 年Good Subject to address...I think we need tec in our tec to help us notice!- when we are over using or when we are not respecting boundaries. So let it tell us it's time out, and or notify us how we may be practicing addictive tec disorder??
Making business sing ??
5 年Elon Musk reckons that we're semi-cyborgs already, with our phones only partially mainlined into our consciousness. According to him, there's a bandwidth issue between our brains and our phones, that once solved, will turn us into fully fledged half-human, half-machine beings. For now, we can still put our phones down, but you have to wonder where our focus will go once everything online is a fluid exchange between our consciousness and technology, and our online relationships ...
Digital Marketing SEO Copywriter
5 年I think we're getting high on technology and what's worse is that all the addiction anonymous groups are in there too. Conversations are not so cool anymore. The 'feed' is our daily bread. With friends, people use social media posts to keep conversations going. That Gmail AI makes people angry when it doesn't type fast enough (but you can't throw water at your laptop). I fee like technology will one day make conversations look like writing books. The word "Connection" is now synonymous with "WiFi". Talking may be one of the simple solutions we need to getting people talking again. Even if we start by booking video calls on Skype or Zoom.