It has struck me lately that the more and more technology develops, the less and less people are gacoing to talk to each other. Not a good thing in my opinion.
The commute to work is full of people in their own little worlds, plugged into their ipod, writing emails on their BlackBerry (me included!), reading books on their Kindle and now you can surf the web on your ipad. Rarely does someone sit down without first desperately trying to fish out the piece of technology that is going to entertain them for the next 30 minutes and will help them avoid any possibility of having to speak to someone. Nope, it’s eyes down, no chat.
And surely this will only get worse. The technology that keeps physically cutting us all off from each other just keeps on coming. Facebook, twitter etc (again, me included!) put us in touch with a diverse range of friends. We feel in the loop and popular with our hundreds of friends and followers.
But then you realise that you haven’t actually spoken to a friend for days. This can feel very isolating. All that emailing, tweeting, BBM-ing and texting is just not the same as picking up the phone or chatting to someone face to face. Coaching is, of course, all about the power of talking. A problem shared is a problem solved as they say!
So how about telephoning a friend this evening or better still, arrange a get together sometime very soon. It might just keep you smiling through a dreary January.
Alice coaches those who want to change career but don’t know what they want to do instead. She offers Career Coaching designed to help graduates, early to mid-level career-changers, and parents returning to work gain a clear vision of what career is right for them, and how to achieve it. She is also an accredited Coach Supervisor, and host of The Career Change Diaries podcast.
