If anything comes between me and my husband, David, it will be a cell phone. It is interesting how something that is intended to connect two people can actually distance them because someone is spending more time posting comments and photos than looking into your eyes and holding a conversation. It’s not just him. We are both guilty of socially isolating ourselves to the point where I check in with him and up on his whereabouts on Facebook. He documents my life and whereabouts his phone (Yikes! That Slutty Mrs. Santa photo is viral!)
Why? Because we live in a society where more conversations seem to happen (or not) online by email, social media or text. We are a distracted society that spends more time looking at a screen than at what is around them. And, nowhere does it seem more apparent then walking the streets of New York. It is like pedestrian bumper cars on the sidewalks between tourists looking up and taking photos and locals looking down at their mobile screens posting texts. One day we helped a man who had broken his nose crashing into a pole while texting into an emergency care clinic. I’ve been bumped into and stepped on (no apologies offered) like I was flotsam on the street by distracted texters.
I think we are going to become a society with more neck and shoulder aches, not to mention bruises and bumps, due to looking down at screens. But more important, our desire to stay connected and in communication through the digital world is depriving us of time to connect and communicate with what is happening and who is around us in real time.
It’s about balance, setting priorities and learning to disconnect digitally at appropriate times and intervals to connect more honestly and lovingly with yourself, your loved ones, your friends and colleagues. And it’s about having common sense and being streetwise so you don’t knock into people, step off sidewalks into incoming cars and crash your own.
So, despite the pressures to “Built a Better and Strong Digital Platform” to be “relevant” and “marketable” in the digital world, I resolve this New Year to build and strengthen a Stronger Foundation and Better Connectivity for staying in touch with myself and my friends on other ways i the real world and living more in the moment than more through a screen. How about you?
Happy New Year! I’m counting down to my New Year’s birthday and making my resolutions for a Fearless, Fabulous 2015! How about you?
Tonight on Fearless Fabulous You! W4WN.com 9pm ET/6pm PT We’re talking sex with intimacy expert, Barbara Musser. Tune in LIVE on www,W4WN.com. Listen on demand anytime, anywhere at iHeart radio (www.iHeart.com) under Shows and Personalities.
Wednesday, Dec 31, on The Connected Table LIVE! Father-Daughter Duo Tony and Marisa May, proprietors of SD26, New York. Tune in LIVE on www.w4cy,com 2pm ET/11 am PT. Listen on demand anytime at iHeartRadio. (www,iHeart.com) under Shows and Personalities.
