Just How Close Are We In A Connected World?
Like every almost every other person living in a city, I am connected – Internet, emails (Shame on me for having 1 office, 1 campus, and 4 personal email addresses making it 6 altogether), phone calls, letters, and SMSs come hard and fast daily (no pun intended) – too well-connected for my comfort.
They say we are living in a global village… you can fly from Singapore to New York in less than 20 hours, talk to another person in Timbuktu with a simple dial of the phone (it is a real place, where on earth that may be I don’t know), send proposals to your business partner in an instant with emails, watch Maria Sharapova live in the Australian Open while having lunch in Singapore, so why do we feel more alone in this world than ever?
With the help of technology, we can reach a person on the far corners of the world in an instant, bringing the proximity closer, but in fact we as people are drifting farther apart. Gone are the good’ol days where people flirt (I meant to say ‘talk’) in person and build genuine relationships, it is now left to flirting over the phone, via a SMS, and thru an email. Communication is 70% non-verbal, it is little wonder why miscommunication is on the rise and relationships on the slide with every advancement in technology.
It has become too easy, too easy to hide behind technology and avoid the discomfort of communicating.
Let me give you an example:
Recently, I have come into a lot of time (would have been swell if I had come into a lot of money instead), hence, I decided to revisit all my friends whom I have been neglecting because of juggling work commitments, part-time studies, and a girlfriend (who is now an ex-girlfriend). Being a guy, I of course contacted my lady friends first, inviting them for dinner, coffee, drinks, movies, and etc.
What struck me was that I had chosen to SMS them instead of calling them direct. Truth be told, I chose to SMS out of a fear of rejection even though my intentions are honourable. Hell, if I was to be rejected I wouldn’t be as disappointed over a SMS than over the phone. It has become increasingly difficult to generate and build genuine relationships, for technology has widened our comfort zone far too big for us to consider stepping out for just one moment.
The question now is “Are you guilty of something similar?” So why not let us all take a chance and break down the barriers of communication, ask that person you have been meaning to out for dinner over the phone instead of SMS, flirt in person, smile a little, and take pleasure in the joy of each other’s company.
In the meantime, reply my SMS alright?
They say we are living in a global village… you can fly from Singapore to New York in less than 20 hours, talk to another person in Timbuktu with a simple dial of the phone (it is a real place, where on earth that may be I don’t know), send proposals to your business partner in an instant with emails, watch Maria Sharapova live in the Australian Open while having lunch in Singapore, so why do we feel more alone in this world than ever?
With the help of technology, we can reach a person on the far corners of the world in an instant, bringing the proximity closer, but in fact we as people are drifting farther apart. Gone are the good’ol days where people flirt (I meant to say ‘talk’) in person and build genuine relationships, it is now left to flirting over the phone, via a SMS, and thru an email. Communication is 70% non-verbal, it is little wonder why miscommunication is on the rise and relationships on the slide with every advancement in technology.
It has become too easy, too easy to hide behind technology and avoid the discomfort of communicating.
Let me give you an example:
Recently, I have come into a lot of time (would have been swell if I had come into a lot of money instead), hence, I decided to revisit all my friends whom I have been neglecting because of juggling work commitments, part-time studies, and a girlfriend (who is now an ex-girlfriend). Being a guy, I of course contacted my lady friends first, inviting them for dinner, coffee, drinks, movies, and etc.
What struck me was that I had chosen to SMS them instead of calling them direct. Truth be told, I chose to SMS out of a fear of rejection even though my intentions are honourable. Hell, if I was to be rejected I wouldn’t be as disappointed over a SMS than over the phone. It has become increasingly difficult to generate and build genuine relationships, for technology has widened our comfort zone far too big for us to consider stepping out for just one moment.
The question now is “Are you guilty of something similar?” So why not let us all take a chance and break down the barriers of communication, ask that person you have been meaning to out for dinner over the phone instead of SMS, flirt in person, smile a little, and take pleasure in the joy of each other’s company.
In the meantime, reply my SMS alright?
posted by homme_dec at 7:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home