I’m writing this post at a Subway restaurant. Just finished my lunch and Iwanted to do a quick post. While sitting here thinking about what I’d like to share with you, I was just watching and observing the people around me. One guy was alone, but on his phone (not talking – do phones still do that?). One woman is eating with her son I presume and she’s on a Macbook Air. Not a whole lot of talking going on there. As I watch people walk by in the mall, it seems a rather large number are talking or texting. Two women in line here are texting. Others are talking with the people they are eating with. And I writing this post on my tablet.
On the one hand you could say that about a quarter to a third of the people Isee are self-absorbed and focused on their technology despite the people around them. On the other hand, I might suggest that the ones that aren’t focused on a person face to face are still trying to make connections with others. Even though our technology has taken over our lives it seems, we still use it in a way to be more connected. Does anyone really have 2000 “friends” they know personally or do they just have a passing acquaintance of an acquaintance to get that Facebook friend request? Do we really “follow” thousands of people? Or do we just like to see that number get as high as possible on Twitter?
As tech makes us more insulated from each other, we compensate by using tech to create relationships that take the place of face to face interaction.
Why?
Because people are creatures that by and large crave relationships in order to have a balanced and well-adjusted life. Sure we all want a little peace and quiet at times. Even the most extreme introvert doesn’t totally shun people unless there’s a pathology of agoraphobia, the fear of people.
We re like this because the most common values in the world involve relationships. Our faith, our families, our spouses, our children and even our career values are about how we related to others. Values rarely are about things. We may like “stuff” but if having a lot of money or things or the sake of having them is a value, that is disordered. It’s not natural and it generally is the province of a selfish narcissist.
We need to connect to others. It’s part of being a human being. We need others around us, because we value their presence. People centered values are key to a happy life.
