What are the negative effects of technology? Poor relationships.
Social media and other forms of technological communication strip away the ability to have a decent face to face conversation. Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In broaden your network, but provides minimal depth of community.
Your brain sharpens with experience, so if your definition of friendship lies behind a computer screen, that becomes your context. Computers can’t read emotion and facial recognition, so the more time you spend on your laptop and texting, the less socially aware and empathetic you become.
My work is primarily with Gen Y/Millennials and what I notice is they are highly educated, but lack people skills. They’ve been taught instant gratification, but the problem is relationships don’t work like that. We are getting closer to the days of eHarmony as the way to meet others because there’s too much risk in real life dating.
Instead of getting depressed, here are some proactive ways to improve your interpersonal skills:
- Practice having conversations with family members and friends
- Attend networking events and focus on getting to know one or two people well
- Invite a social media contact to grab coffee together
Let’s not let the “art of conversation” become extinct. Social media and technology is not the enemy (I’d be a hypocrite because I use them), but merely a means to an end. Don’t substitute “contacts” for relationships.
Business is relationships. Your network is your net worth!