Communication Unplugged

Like most guys, I love technology. As an extroverted, social type of person I especially love technology associated with communication and relationships such as Facebook, blogs, and texting. I love knowing what people are up to and being able to share thoughts, pictures, etc. But recently I have been thinking about how all this continual “connectedness” also has some backlash.

It seems that many of our relationships and friendships are being reduced to a series of sound bites or headlines. Instead of calling someone to ask how their day was or to make plans, we e-communicate. And why not? It is convenient and efficient. But is that always best? A 2 minute phone call can cover more ground than 20 minutes of texting, and with far more ability to convey tone and emotion. Real relationships are built on face time or at least verbal dialog, but we seem to be using them less and less. Technology has dramatically increased the number of people we can keep up with, but if we are not careful it may do so at the cost of depth in some of our core relationships.

We are more connected than ever, but ironically we are also more lonely than ever. As I wrote in a previous post, the cure for loneliness is authentic and available relationships. Unfortunately, e-communication has a tendency to be neither. It is often not authentic in that it is too condensed and lacks emotion and tone. It is often the opposite of available, since it allows us to initiate or respond completely at our convenience.

So what is the answer? Quit using facebook? Stop texting? I dont think so. But I do think that we should be aware of and careful with how we use e-communication tools. They should definitely be supplemental rather than primary methods of communication, used for minutes a day rather than hours. Go grab coffee with someone. Call that friend in another part of the country instead of writing on their wall. I guarantee you will both be glad that you did.