Losing touch? pt1
Over the past 10 years, it has become so much easier to connect with people from all corners of the world. Personal video conferencing with Skype, instant messageing and social networking such as Myspace and Facebook allow us to see, hear and chat with people we couldn’t have 10 years ago without buying a plane ticket.
With more than 400million active users – 50% of which log in on any given day – Facebook has given the opportunity to reconnect with people we met back in school, worked with many years ago, and old friends we lost contact with over time.
The question is, if we are connecting with more and more people than ever before, are the strengths of the connections with our nearest and dearest suffering as a consequence?
Malcolm Gladwell encourages us to consider how many people we can really connect with on a ‘personal’ level?
“if you belong to a group of five people, you have to keep track of ten separate relationships: your relationship with the four others in your circle and the six other two-way relationships between the others.”
Malcolm Gladwell – The Tipping Point
In order to keep up with 300 friends on Facebook, or 300 IM contacts, we have made a few alterations in the way we socialize… I’d say without even noticing.
When we used to say, ‘lets grab a coffee and catch up’, we now say, ‘will you be on Facebook chat later?’
Hyperconnectivity is a great thing. That said, I would challenge you that it is even more important to make an extra effort to nurture those connections that are most special. Friends, family, partners…
Make a conscious effort to phone a friend this week – not text – but phone. Wait until you get home, boil the kettle, open a packet of Hob Nobs and make a call. Intend on spending some time on the phone, catching up on the latest news, sharing stories of old times, laugh and cry together, and even arrange to meet up and ‘do this again sometime’. The reason? Does it make you feel any different inside? Would you have got the same feeling if you’d texted them, or emailed them, or even talked on Facebook chat?
Live, Love and Die Happy
Craig
p.s. I understand the irony of posting such a topic on a blog…
