Been blogging alot in my own mind.
which is progress
since for a while i was blank
now if i can make time to blog any of it...
a quick update - for no real reason i'm changing my communication habits, it could be short lived, but i'm not living on email, facebook as much recently.
Did my real life finally get interesting? Just kidding.
Actually, I am trying to be "present" more focused, less distracted, distracting... and/or rude.
Several weeks ago I was at an "The Office" viewing party. The people who were invited (I was driving a couple of them home) were mostly high schoolers and when i arrived and sat down to watch the last bit of the show I noticed many of them were were involved on their phones "talking" (aka texting) people throughout the show. There wasn't alot of talking going on in the room with one another. They would all laugh at the same time, as a result of something they watched together, but many of them were somewhere else entirely.
OK, I'm not one of those old people who just doesn't "get it..." I'm easily one of "them" but it did get me thinking... about how they connect and what it means that they may very well talk more when they're not face to face, than when they are.
I have a friend who finds blogging annoying because he believes it replaces real relationships and community with false connection. We have agreed to disagree on this point. I have made friends because of the blogs I read and the relationships which develop and I guess part of what is unsettling for me now that i've unplugged a bit, is that i'm feeling out of touch with these people. More relational guilt for not being a good friend? No, I really do miss the connection.
On the other hand, I'm way more focused in meetings and have actually been out with some friends who i dont typically connect with electronically. So, per norm there's good and bad to everything...
and oh, if you send me an email, you might not get an answer for like a whole 24 hours unless i'm at work.
2 comments:
Blogging as a substitute for genuine relationships would be a bad thing, but it can be very helpful in learning about somebody.
Plus, for me, as a man of the male gender (thanks Dave Barry), I'm not really inclined to call my buddy in Montana to chit-chat. But I'll read his blog and comment on it. It might even spark an email...
Hey Janet. As always your blogs give me pause for thought. I'm pretty electronically connected to people, especially since one of my best friends is Deaf. But I too found myself beginning to disconnect from the people in front of me. So I made a commitment to myself (and really to my people) that when I am with someone face to face, I leave my phone/pager either in the car, or turned off so that I can give that person my full attention. I'm not always 100% faithful to that commitment, as it is kind of an addiction, but I'm getting better and I've definitely noticed a difference in my attention span...
But I miss you when you're not online since that's my only way of connecting with you. Maybe we should try coffee in real life sometime? ;o)
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