HTT: Technology Fosters Community

Image credit: Connect with me by Ben W (Flickr)

In having conversations about communication, technology can be deemed as a huge hindrance to real interpersonal communication.

But there's another way to look at it...

As part of the Fired Up & Focused Challenge put on by Racheal Cook, The Yogipreneur I joined her Facebook group.  After the challenge the fun continues as we all connect and in one conversation about Biz BFFs this comment by Tami Hackbarth came into play:

I used to say that technology was slowly breaking down our ability to communicate.  We had gone from snail mail and in person exchanges to emails, online chats, and text messages.  The quality was really what was breaking down.  With the advent of technology we want things faster, sooner, quicker...and this all leads to the watering down of our communication.

We don't take our time anymore because there's always more, there's so much more to do...this is a side affect of industrialization & technology.  But we don't have to fall victim to these.  We can have our cake, eat it, and not worry about the calories!

This is best accomplished by changing how we engage and shifting our perspective about communication.

The age of technology has afforded us many more opportunities to connect with one another that were once unachievable, or at the very least more difficult to come by.  We can reach more people, farther away at the click of the button than ever before.

The real trick is to truly engage with those you are communicating with.  With the ease by which we communicate things like really being present go by the wayside.  Use these tips to make your communication more meaningful:

• Stop multi-tasking while you're talking.  One of the biggest pitfalls to our clear and meaningful communication is when we are trying to do more than one thing at a time.  In reality the human brain doesn't have the bandwidth or capability to truly do more than one thing consciously at the same time.  It turns out that what you're really doing when you're "multi-tasking" is switching back and forth from task to task.  While it seems quick it still takes time to switch gears which eats away at the level of skill to which you are performing any one task.
  
• Don't shortchange your communication.  It's easy to use abbreviations and slang, and if it's authentic to you to speak in that way go for it!  What's a problem is when you use it to get lazy with your communication, like overusing words like "very" to emphasize things, rather than using a more appropriate word.  This is especially evident in written communication and seeks to just dumb down what you're saying so that everything is a bit lackluster in feeling.
  
• Consider what you're trying to say before speaking.  So much of conversation is filled with useless idle chatter.  This is when you get accused of "talking to hear yourself talk" and "saying nothing".  I once heard a statement that went along the lines of, "if we only spoke to exchange relevant information we would all talk a lot less".  Think about what you're really trying to say when you speak to someone.  Are you just updating someone?  Asking for information?  Sharing something valuable?
  
• Take a page from Don Miguel & "Be Impeccable with your word."  The Four Agreements is one of my favorite books.  While it sounds simple on the surface, in practice (with the way we as a society are) there's a good bit more difficulty to this & the other three tenets.  Being impeccable means being authentic and true in your communication with others & yourself.  It means that you don't spend time with negative statements and gossip.  It's the truly positive use of language.  Get your copy and read more in depth here.
  

In the comments below, share with me...

• Do you multi-task while you are talking to people (or doing anything else for that matter)?
• How can you improve your communication by being more mindful about your words?
• Are you familiar with The Four Agreements?

Thanks for tuning in to this week's "Healing Thought Thursday".  Make sure you come back next week to see what's going on in my world!  And if you haven't yet be sure to join my newsletter and connect with me on your favorite social media!

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