You're going to read a lot about Facebook this week. Rumor has it that they're going to go for their initial public offering. I can only imagine when they do go public how fast those stocks are going to shoot up.
Facebook basically has information on just about everybody on this planet. It's amazing when you think about the sheer amount of talking and chatting that happens on Facebook every single day.
We love our social media. I love social media. I think it's great. It's enabled me to reach out and meet a whole new audience. But today I want to give kudos to a guy named Jake Reilly. He did something called the Amish Project, where he spent 90 days without a cell phone, email, or social media. And get this: during the 90 days he was actually able to get back together with an ex-girlfriend! Do you want to know why? Because he was forced to go out and interact with people face-to-face.
Jake was forced to go out and communicate with people, the old way, all over again. We have become so tech-dependent it's crazy. There's not a day that doesn't pass by that I don't go somewhere and see somebody strapped to some device like life support.
I could be in the supermarket getting groceries and the person behind me is screaming into their cell phone, either fighting with a boyfriend or talking with a boss about work and ignoring everybody around them. There are people in line at movie theatres that don't even look up and talk to the person handing them a ticket because they're too busy in a text conversation.
We are so tech-dependent that we've become a society of people that do not know how to relate to one another at all. We have no idea how to emotionally connect with each other because all we're doing is constantly connecting with technology. It's amazing nowadays when I get emails from people -- younger people usually -- and they can't even form full sentences. Everything is LOL or SMH or any other type of tech-y shortening of a phrase.
I'd like to see everybody go one entire day without technology and see what happens. I think we should really form a movement. Every blogger on Huffington Post should write about this one day. Let's make it March 1st, 2012: a day without technology.
It'll force you to grab coffee with an old friend. It'll force you to talk to people. It'll force you to communicate with people face-to-face. Yeah, I know, some of you are thinking that it would make us far less efficient. I don't think so. I don't think it would make us less efficient, I think it will make us more real again.
When it comes down to romance and beginning relationships, you've got to talk one-on-one. When it comes down to work, you've got to sit in front of somebody and get to know them. So, who's up for it? Who's ready to ditch technology in a month and really start relating to people all over again?
Jake Reilly, you've inspired me.