Remember, the old days, when we used to talk? Work friendships were forged over conference room chats and real friendships were an amalgamation of shared experiences, good and bad. Sometimes, we called each other just to say hi…can you imagine?
All of that has since been condensed into a post, a tweet, a picture or a message, sometimes sent with panache (slam effects). These days, we have a multitude of applications that allow us to do everything except for talk. We have truncated the most basic human form of interaction to some version of 1’s and 0’s.
Even the cell phone, whose primary function in the past, was to perpetuate conversation (“can you hear me now”®) has been repurposed. Now used for everything from remembering our grocery list, to reading the latest article/book, to guiding our meditations and our cars, and of course to receiving our perpetual popularity stats (#of emails/messages, “Liked”, RT, etc.).
Recently, at a show I attended for comedian Jerry Seinfeld, he said and I am paraphrasing, “I could ask each and every one of you what battery power is left on your phone, and you could answer me without evening looking!”
And even with all that cell phone love, we talk to each other less and less.
I miss connecting the old way. It was simple. We got to get a sense of people and their real lives vs. the empty shell web version.
When we talked, we could hear it in their voices…their exasperation with their jobs, their pride in their children, their lasting hope in their dreams. We did not need emoji’s to interpret emotions. We heard them, in the inflections, in the silences, in the joy that could never be revealed on a text. We could nourish each other in a way that no “Like” could ever do.
This year, let’s experience that real connection again. Every day, instead of sending a text, an endorsement, a Like, let’s physically call someone or see them. Let’s get coffee together. Let’s pick up the phone and congratulate them on their new job, or wish them happy birthday in person. Let’s call to say hi, for no reason!
Let’s explore the lost art of conversations. Because within them, there is a treasure trove of feelings, shared experiences, unknown opportunities, and pure comfort in the feeling of being someone in the world, that is truly connected to people, and not just to a bunch of apps.
Who’s with me?
Too true! Luv it!
Thank you!!
As soon as I discovered this internet site I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.