| by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP® |
Smartphones and conversation
In many ways, I stand in awe of the things my phone can do for me – and in other ways, I recoil in horror. I know that every generation believes that the yutes coming up are clueless and will ruin the world. And I guess I’m no exception, because it is my observation that young people today simply have not learned the art of conversation!
Terrific apps!
On a recent trip up to CT and NYC for my high school reunion, I used my phone to:
- Book a rental car through Turo — sort of the Air B&B of cars – people share their vehicles, for a fee, with others.
- Store our luggage. The LuggageHero app gave us several nearby choices of people who would store our luggage for a fee.
- Check into our flights on American Airlines and provide boarding passes.
- Get driving directions from that nice British lady who lives in my phone.
What wonderful conveniences and time savers apps are! It is a great time to be alive, and I’m excited to see what comes next. Pretty soon I’ll write a post about Ai.
Conversation is an art
But conversation is an art, and one lost on young people, I fear. I pride myself on being good at it. Usually the trick is just to ask questions – we all love talking about ourselves. But given that family dinners seem to be a thing of the past, where will young people learn social graces?
Have you ever had to shout HEADS UP! while walking down the sidewalk because some yute (a reference to the movie My Cousin Vinnie) was too engrossed in the phone and about to knock you over? This truly saddens me – that for many people the virtual world inside the device is more compelling than the real world consisting of the real people all around them.
The Real World vs. the Virtual World
In texting lingo IRL means, in real life. What other kind of life is there? Virtual. In the virtual world all I need do is show up. No bathing, dressing, nor preparation. Any hour of the day. And I can be anonymous and hateful. People have been prosecuted for urging others to commit suicide.
I see the virtual world as a lazy man’s substitute for the real thing. The photo I’ve chosen for this blog post illustrates my point perfectly – six people, with each other, or at least adjacent, but ignoring the people present in favor of those not present – or those only virtual. So sad, in my view.
I can tell you as someone who has made many hiring and firing decisions over the years that any interviewee who even touches a smartphone during the interview has lost the job already.
It is teatime
Although I’ve never acquired a taste for tea, I greatly admire the British custom of afternoon tea: at 4:00 or 4:30 every day everything stops, people enjoy a cuppa, and actually have to talk to each other. What a concept.
