As I sat in front of my computer, trying so hard to knit this article together, it just occurred to me how much my life has been virtually wired around the Internet, the World Wide Web and Information Communication Technology (ICT), and all the gadgets that come with living in a technology-driven global village.
In fact, in a day, I can’t keep a tab on the countless emails I send and receive, the sms messages from clients and friends not counting all those who want to chat online. How about social media sites? Of course, you will agree this has become one of the easiest means of staying connected with all those who matter to you, but the question is: are we not losing the human interaction?
The other day I confiscated my niece’s blackberry phone because while everybody was getting ready for church, she was busy pinging away on the blackberry phone. The world literally came to an end for her because everything about her revolves around her blackberry phone and she didn’t mince words – “uncle you messed up my day”. How? I queried. “Because it’s like you took away my world”, she replied.
Isn’t that enough reason for worry? Like my niece, many of us have built imaginary walls around ourselves – it’s us and our gadgets and no one or nothing else exists. Imagine the many times someone close to you has complained loudly about your uncaring attitudes just because you’ve confined your relationship with them to emails, sms messages, chats, etc.
Tim Connor shares some interesting statistics on how much technology has made us lose our human touch is very instructive:
- The average couple spends less than 27 minutes a week in shared intimate (not sexual) conversation and on average over 36 hours per week individually scrolling/searching the Internet.
- The average salesperson sends out over 50 emails/texts a day and talks with fewer than 10 customers/prospects during the same time frame. I’m not including here sales folks who are involved in tele-sales or telemarketing activities.
- The average parent spends less than 20 minutes a week talking to each of their children one-on-one on important child rearing conversations.
- The average manager sends more emails to employees in a week than they have conversations with them in a month”.
Enjoy technology but don’t allow it rule your life and kill human interaction!
