The other day my colleague, Al Lunsford, gave me a Thomas Friedman column to read, in which he recounts his disappointment with a French taxi driver who was too busy talking on his cell phone and watching an in-taxi feature film on the dashboard to pay much attention to him.
I noticed this trend years ago when instant messaging started becoming popular…my friends would come over to my house, and then we’d log onto AIM and talk to people in distant places…sometimes together, and sometimes separately. Some people (including myself) keep up with their friends by reading each others blogs. We have replaced knowing people with knowing facts about people.
The technology invented to connect faraway people, we now use to connect people close by.
Have you ever been too lazy to get out of bed, so you use the phone to call someone else in the same house? I have.
The other day a friend of mine was having some fallout with a friend. What medium did they use to mend things? Facebook blogs.
As communication technology continues to advance, will our communities be united through its proper use, or will the interface replace face-to-face?
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I understand. But I also just started using a webcam to call a friend on Skype, and feel MUCH more connected that way. He is someone I think I should stay in touch with. Technology to the rescue!
Great example
Thanks Scott, that’s a great example of technology used in a good way — shrinking distances that were previously enormous.
Becoming Aware of Technology’s Impact
In October, we posted on "Cultivating Friends, Not MySpace" the story of a young man who realized that technology can get in the way of paying attention to the people walking next to you. I agree that technology can close long distances. Like Scott, I use it to keep in touch with friends and family. It seems that we all need to develop a greater self awareness when we’ve crossed the line, when people that are far away are more important than the people next to me. I’ve seen dads so preoccupied with calls that they don’t even see their daughter’s soccer game or hear the dinner conversation. I’ve taught sessions in corporate circles while a key executive responds to email. It’s people emailing the person in the next cubicle. I’m sure you can think of lots of examples. It’s the partial or divided attention factor that bothers me.