Ready to connect?

Nowadays, it becomes more and more popular to compare human skills with technology, and I think that this is not always so useful. When it comes to human connection, however, I started realizing that there are indeed some interesting parallels between me and my bluetooth speaker.

I have a bluetooth speaker at home. Every time I turn it on, I hear this voice telling me the same thing: "Ready to connect". Recently, that made me thinking: Am I ready to connect, too?

My speaker is always ready to connect. The reason is that I regularly charge its battery and that there are never too many other bluetooth devices connected at once.

We humans are not so different from that. In general, we are ready to connect with others. But we are struggling to do that if we are out of energy, or if we are connected to too many other things at once. That is when we reach a point where our system is not ready to connect another device anymore.

In order to connect with others, first of all, we need our batteries to be filled. But we also need a certain emptiness within ourselves, some free capacity that is available for a human connection to have space, some room to be filled with the world around us.

When we are too low on energy, we won't send any signals of availability to the devices around us. When we are connected with too many things already, our capacities for a new connection are limited as well.

Connection takes a certain effort to be established, but at the same time it needs to be effortless, too. Connection needs some signal of availability, but it doesn't need a lot of impulse or content. And it does not really matter who established the connection, as soon as there is one.

Once we connect with others, like my speaker, we don’t really play any music ourselves. We provide a platform for the music of the connected device to be heard. We are not forcing any sounds - we are just allowing the vibes of the other to vibrate through us.

Good connection doesn’t need a specific theme or topic either. It is not bound to an agenda, it simply relies on the readiness of two devices to connect. Connection means being on a same vibe, but it doesn't depend on a specific song.

My wireless speaker allows me to move around without losing connection. Like in a healthy human relation, the connection with my speaker is flexible and elastic. And if there are not too many barriers in the way, it works on distance as well.

Finally, a good connection can be switched on and off, depending on the situation. Sometimes I want my bluetooth speaker to connect, but sometimes I really don't. I can rely on our connection when I need it, but I don't have to be connected all the time - like with a good childhood friend.

Being ready to connect helps us enjoy life. I feel this to be true when connecting with my speaker, but even more so when connecting with other people.