You know the person... the person who is always looking at their cell phone or PDA, checking for new messages, stepping out for phone calls, busily pounding on their laptops responding to their emails, even when they're in small meetings. The person is very busy, always moving, and always has so much to do, actually, too much to do. The person is very important and juggling many things. I'm sure you know the person I'm talking about. Maybe it's a colleague. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's you. I know that often times it's me.
We spend so much time being connected and building close relationships with people who are far away. Then, we go to the effort of reserving time to be with them and traveling to see them. And when we finally get there, instead of focusing on them, we dive into our connected mobile devices and start communicating with the other people who are now far away from us, those who we're virtually connected to.
In other words, instead of focusing on the people who are HERE, we focus on the people who are THERE. And, when we get THERE, that becomes our new HERE, and instead of focusing on the people who are in our new HERE, we focus on the people in our new THERE. It's a vicious cycle!
Perhaps you have figured out that I'm a big fan of being connected. I love the new communication experiences that technology has enabled. I love creating the technologies that enable them. I love the fact that I can communicate with people by email, phone, video conferencing, blogging, social networking, and instant messaging. I think the experiences and technologies are immensely valuable and that we should keep developing them as fast as we can.
But, as people, we have to learn how to manage ourselves in a world where these technologies exist.
Do you know someone who is stuck in the HERE-THERE cycle? Are you?
Where do you live? HERE or THERE?
How do we manage ourselves in a world of communication technologies?
Tags:
communication experience,
communication technology,
multitasking,
work-life balance,
overload,
focus on people,
build relationships,
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