Today I am sitting in the lobby of the Rowe building at
Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
I am watching a myriad of young men and women as they
gather in this great lobby waiting for their next classes to start.
Know what I
am seeing?
There is very little conversation happening. Most of them are on
their electronic devices. They may be standing close to their classmates, but
they are not communicating.
Have you heard of the quote, "No man is an
island"?
Theoretically this quote should be true. But I have
noticed something very significant that is occurring with this age of
connectivity. Social media has and continues to create more
"Islands".
It seems that more often than not, people are sitting
alone or even beside friends texting and checking online for ... whatever. In
fact, instead of chatting to one another, they text each other, even when they
are sitting together!
I was waiting at a stop light to cross the street and
there were two young ladies, around 14 years of age standing in front of me
waiting for the light to change. They were both busy, thumbs flying as they
were texting someone. Then a very strange thing occurred! One girl turned to
the other one and said, "Yes!" Then there was another flurry of
flying thumbs, and the other girl turned to the first one and said, "No
Kidding!" -And that is how their communication was continuing as we stood
there on the corner.
I was in shock!
What is this world turning into? No wonder we are having
more challenges with building relationships today than ever before. All our
gizmos and social media are actually making us more disconnected.
Then what in the world does this "age of
connectivity" really mean? Does being or staying "connected"
mean that we are taking our relationships for granted and simply think that
because we are "connected", we are communicating?
Lightbulb!
We are human beings and thus are gregarious by nature. We
all need interaction with other human beings in order to stay healthy. In
fact, we have discovered that when people stay isolated for a long time, they
are more apt to have things like dementia when they are older. Dementia can
start when we are in our twenties. It usually is not detected for at least 20
years, thus it is thought to be a condition of old aged.
Is this age of "connectivity" also creating the
microwave oven effect on our other relationships?
Because we are sending and receiving messages online at
an alarming rate, when we do not get the results we desire quickly, we leave in
search of another solution
If our relationships are not growing at the rate or in
the area we desire within a very short period of time, we give up on them and
search for that "perfect" one.
Believe me, it does not work that way.
Building relationships takes a lot of work! Years! It is
not easy and "life does not run smoothly."
It takes reading lots of books; working together with
open minds; finding solutions to those "hic-ups" along the way.
Believe me, they will happen, and yes, "life does not run smoothly",
but if you have a willing heart and mind, together you can do amazing things.
If you are in business, you will want to seek out a good coach to guide and mentor
you through this process.
It takes time to build those relationships we need and
want with the people we need and want for business, and it all
starts with you.
Get connected on a much deeper level. People you are
connected to will only do business with you if they know, like and trust you. If
you are in business, you will be glad you did.
Make it a great day!
Christine Till
The
Marketing Mentress
1-780-904-9557
marketingmentress@gmail.com
LI: /christinetill
FB Bus: /themarketingmentress
Twitter: @mktgmentress
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