A homemade birthday card. A hug from a friend. A nice, long letter. Nowadays, these simple gestures seem more and more like a thing of the past. Gone are the days where a scene like “What’s the Story, Morning Glory?” in Bye Bye Birdie would fly; instead, all the characters would be linked up on their laptops, texting the song lyrics back and forth. In this day and age, where we are all so easily connected through technology, face-to-face interaction and handwritten communication seem almost obsolete.
During my meeting with Simply D and Jules the other day, Jules mentioned that this has been on her mind lately. The world is become more and more globalized every second, and the ways that humans are able to connect to one another is continuing to advance rapidly.
Although two people may be thousands of miles across the world from one another, they can still see each other through a webcam as though they are interacting with in person. People can send messages to one another, no matter the location, with just one tap of a button. If you want to see just how far advanced we humans are when it comes to digital connection, all you have to do is look online at how powerful social media is, how the message of viral video can reach hundreds of thousands in just days.
All of us at Innermix know all about this kind of communication; as we all have our hands in all kinds of projects and have the seeming inability to say “No” to any project that excites us--a great thing, in our opinions--we have a tough go of it finding times to all sit down and meet in person. Instead, we do most of our meetings and planning in cyberspace. Whether it’s through Skype, Gchat, or even just a phone call (something that now seems old school, if you ask me! - Kat) we stay connected with the touch of a button--or a few.
But while all of these technological feats are laudable and have significantly increased the east of doing business worldwide, we at Innermix can’t help but wonder—what has happened to connecting to one another in the most basic way? Has true human interaction gone the way of the dinosaurs and come extinct?
Nowadays, when you want to see how an old friend is doing, what do you typically do? Call them up and talk on the phone for hours? Only if you want your call to get rejected and instead receive a text asking why on Earth you didn’t just do that in the first place. Or you would write on their Facebook wall, Vox them, shoot them an email, etc. While this doesn’t apply to everyone, I think you get my point. Even I’m guilty of this pretty regularly.
But why do we do this? Why has it become so much easier to type out, “Hey, how are you doing?” onto someone’s Facebook wall instead of just meeting up with an old friend over coffee and actually finding out how he or she is doing? Why do we spend hours texting e-smiley faces and winks to a potential love interest instead of getting to know one another through a phone call late at night?
It’s the vulnerability that we’ve become so accustomed to protecting ourselves from. This barrier that technology has given us enables us to hide behind our cell phone and our laptops, deleting, backspacing, and rewriting our thoughts and desires to connect once again, until ultimately, we become totally disconnected.
The most important thing to realize in our techno-connected world is to strike a balance. Yes, we at Innermix do a lot of our inner Innermix (what a mouthful!) meetings in the virtual space, but we put a lot of effort into building our relationships in person, too. In fact, one of biggest Innermix’s mottos is “doing business with a good old-fashioned handshake”. Not just with business, but just with life in general, Simply D and Jules always make it a point to emphasize the importance of building an genuine relationship with every individual who they help, whether it’s through business, entertainment or just friendship, and maintaining that relationship, no matter how far away they may be.
So if you’re ever having one of those days where you find yourself thinking about an old friend or acquaintance who you haven’t spoken to in a long time, call. Write a letter. Meet up for coffe. I know it may be tempting to just take a second and send them a text or e-mail, but between a series of exchanged one-liners and a face-to-face conversation, I think you know which one will give the both of you happiness and satisfaction in the end.
And besides, there’s nothing like hugging an old friend after not seeing them for a long time. I may be stating the obvious here, but come on, hugs are awesome. That instant connection, that warmth of familiarity? Those are things that the Internet will never give you the same way a face-to-face meeting can.
Until next time,
Tiffany
Editor’s Note: I agree with Tiff 100%! And I can’t help but wonder, with all of this technology, how far away are we from getting holograms sent to us? What will the first hologram say? “Help me, Obi-wan Kenobe. You’re my only hope.” Duh. -Kat
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