It may not seem like it in this 24/7 information age where we are bombarded with messages / emails / pings / dings and rings, but remember this….
You CAN choose WHAT you respond to
You CAN choose WHEN you respond
and
You CAN choose HOW you respond to the communications you receive
It seems to me that technology has set up a Pavlovian response in all of us to answer / click / scroll the minute those notifications beam out from our screens.
We’re being conditioned to be at the beck and call of anyone and everyone who has access to contact us through our social media profiles, websites and emails.
We’re being conditioned to expect (and to provide) an instantaneous response every time someone gets in touch.
We’re being conditioned to respond before we take PAUSE to THINK, so that the meaning of our communication is being skewed and misinterpreted.
We’re being conditioned to believe that we’re entitled to a response the nano second that our messages are being sent out into the ether.
And we need to STOP.
We need to PAUSE.
We need to CONNECT and INTERACT.
We need to look UP NOT DOWN.
To make EYE CONTACT again.
We need to realise that we have LIVES that exist outside of the technology that enables us to work faster, but not always smarter.
We need to exercise our right to CHOOSE what, when and how we communicate so that we bring back meaning and feeling and kindness into how we express ourselves online.
>> 80’s FLASHBACK <<
Remember the days when there were no mobile phones and if you were meeting someone by the town hall steps and they didn’t appear, you went to a phone box to ring them?
Remember the days when if you had a question for someone in office in which you worked you got up from your desk and went and spoke to them, face-to-face with words that came out of your mouth rather than via email or text?
I do, along with the perm and the shoulder pads.
We are conditioning ourselves to over-respond, over-commit and to over-react by BELIEVING that we owe and that we are OWED immediate 24/7 access to the people we interact with on-line.
We are creating this fiction that we have a ‘social life’ because that’s what ‘social media’ is all about, right?
RIGHT.
Think about your last 5 posts or comments on-line.
When was the last time you were in the same room as the person / people you’re interacting with?
When was the last time you had an in-person conversation with one of them? A coffee? A hug?
Sure, social media is fabulous for meeting and keeping in touch with people around the globe and I’m ever so grateful for the amazing fellow entrepreneurs I’ve met in communities on-line.
BUT, the point is this.
You have a CHOICE about
>> What you respond to.
>> When you respond.
>> And how you respond.
You are in CONTROL.
You are the dog. Wagging the tail.
Your master is not Pavlov.
YOU ARE.
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Please comment and let me know:
How do you manage your on-line communications?
Do you feel the need to respond immediately?
In what ways does this impact on your own ability to make it happen in your own life or business?
