As I sat in front of my laptop, 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, Information Communication Technology, 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, as well as the Short Message Service from clients and friends. This is outside 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 touch?
The other day I confiscated my niece’s BlackBerry because while everybody was getting ready for church, she was busy pinging on the phone. The world literally came to an end for her because everything about her revolves around her phone. She didn’t mince words saying, “Uncle, you messed up my day.” “How?” I queried. “Because it was like you took away my world,” she replied.
Isn’t that enough reason to worry? Like my niece, many of us have built imaginary walls around ourselves — it’s we 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, and chats, among others.
On how much technology has made us lose our human touch, Writer Tim Connor, says, “The average couple spends less than 27 minutes a week in shared intimate (not sexual) conversation, and on the 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,” he adds.
This is the way all of us have been wired by technology. Today, rather than visit or talk to each other across the fence or on the street, we prefer to use technology. Of course, it’s easier and convenient to employ technology, but the one thing that separates human beings from other species is the ability to interact and communicate ideas, share our fears, frustrations, feelings, hopes, aspirations and dreams with others – these are unique human traits. But we seem to be losing them gradually to technology.
I am not against technology (I am extremely passionate about it), but the evidence is overwhelming. Many of us, especially of the younger generation, are losing the human touch with those in our lives whether on personal level, career or business. How many times have you got a “technology message” response rather than a physically present human voice when you call any organisation? The kind of technology message or pre-recorded responses you get from your telecoms provider when you have issues with your cell phone lines are what I am talking about. You cannot start a conversation with a pre-recorded voice.
Same applies when you urgently need to reach your spouse, children, some relatives or even a client, and you keep getting response like: ‘the number you’re dialing is busy’, ‘please try again later’ or ‘the number you’re dialing is not correct, please, check the number and try again’. That’s very frustrating. Isn’t it? But that’s now our social reality.
Do you think you might be losing business because of your overuse of technology? Do you think one of your relationships might be in jeopardy because you are relying too heavily on technology? Are you losing touch/connection with others in your life in a real and human way?
If your answer is yes, then my response to you is this: Use technology as a tool and not a crutch if you want to develop, build and maintain positive relationships with others in your life. On a personal note, I believe there is a need to always draw a balance and this is where the real challenge lies. How can you draw a balance with all these distractions online? Keep an eye on this column for a future piece that will shed more light on that.