People and Technology

From WittleNet

People and Technology

How many ways are there to answer the question "Who am I?"? One of the ways that I've read somewhere is a person is defined by their relationships. Close family relationships such as with your parents, children, and your spouse. Next-level family relationships such as those with extended family. Relationships with professional colleagues, and friends. Relationships within our community, such as neighbors and other members of our faith.

We live in an age where the choices we have for communication grow seemingly every day. You would think that would mean that the number and quality of our relationships would increase. If more and better means of communication knock down barriers to communication, shouldn't this be true?

Yet it seems to me that the opposite is the case. As we have more and more methods for communication available, it seems the number and quality of our relationships is decreasing. Why?

One possible reason is the amount of communication we do now on a daily basis. How many e-mail messages do you send and receive each day? How many phone conversations do you have? How much reading do you do?

Communication has an element of work associated with it. You use your time and attention to listen and absorb what you're reading/hearing. You spend time and energy crafting your reply to best communicate the thought or idea you're trying to convey. With so much communication going on, that's a lot of effort to expend.

It seems to me that a great deal of the time and energy I spend on communication is nearly worthless from a relationship perspective. The subjects and topics that I spend time on are too mundane; the schedule for the day, the issues of the day at work, etc.

Having written this down, maybe what I need to focus on is spending more of my precious communication effort on things that have more lasting value in terms of my various relationships.

I have some phone calls to make. See you later...