The world is changing. Everyone is crumbling to cope with the pace of change. In particular, being social in the digital world today is seen as a form of necessity. It’s assumed that those who couldn’t keep up, they’ll fall. Those who could, they’ll succeed.
Unfortunately, they have got it all wrong – How?
Take an example of ‘getting to know you‘ scenario:
No doubt that if I want to get to know you, it’s faster for me to click through your profile on social network and request for a friendship. All I need is just a little waiting time to be accepted. No confrontation fear, no practice required, no sweat, and no embarrassment risks. What’s the worst that could happened? Just longer acceptance time, or no acceptance from you at all. It can always be a digital mistake to blame.
Unlike the old days when effort is required in every attempt to get to know someone. There were tests of courage, genuineness, patience, honesty, and persistence involved. All these require face-to-face communication, multiple attempts, gestures, and most importantly, time to build a trusting and long term relationship. There are risk and uncertainty alongside each attempt that provide true human interaction and experience. If I fail, I will learn the hard way to get back up. If I succeed, the feeling of satisfaction can be astounding.
So I pick the fastest and less risky route. Bottom line is just getting to know you, doesn’t require big return. I suppose this is what most people would do today.
Subconsciously, ‘shortcut keys‘ are no longer a phrase used on keyboards only, but also applied in our everyday life today. Just because we have no time to waste on nitty gritty, but overly impatient to impress others in the fastest way. Instead of utilising both online and offline to create better life, the online world has gradually cannibalise our used-to-be world.
If we take a step-back to observe our surrounding today and we will realise that face-to-face communication is no longer a priority. There is a lack of sensitivity among the younger generation because they are not groomed to interact with others in person. Career doesn’t come from humble beginning, because employees are too busy looking for shortcuts from the very beginning. Managing the top is more important than managing the bottom because leadership is all about ‘What‘, no longer about ‘How‘.
Everyone wants to tell everyone what to do, but not how to do because they have no idea how to get it done.
They have no idea what fear is like, and therefore they have never learn to overcome. They are afraid to express themselves, and so they turn to social media for failure outcry.
Yes, we all agree that the world is changing faster than ever. It’s only a matter of time when it will crash. Machine can never replace human because machine requires human to operate it. Without understanding fundamental values, there will be no analog backup when automation fails. In a nutshell, the new world can only complement and add value to our today’s life, but it can never replace the most basic and practical human need – connecting with others in person.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez
I think this is also the reson of growing stress rates in society as there is less human interaction ( face-to-face ) nowadays.
People need to interact more, have a life instead of facing screen all the time 🙂