We are now the post modernists.
We are slowly moving away from the target population of advertisements into the strange and illustrious world of being grown-ups, having jobs, and being self sufficient. We are also unfortunate enough to be the “in-between” generation in terms of technology. Our parents, while inferior in email technology, excel at verbal communication. While our hyper-active ADHD younger siblings can tweet at rates rivaling the speed of sound. We, my friends are stuck in the middle – on par.
What does this all mean? Well, it means that we are neither socially or technologically as adept as everyone else. It means that we are at a deficit – our social skills slowly decaying as we tweet, blog, facebook, and attack the latest “app” on phones that are smarter than we are. Each new wave of technology isolates us further and further away from actual human contact… thank God we have so many friends on Facebook.
I urge you my friends, lets bring back the old school social contact. I don’t mean dialing up someone on your rotary phone to scamper down to the ol’ swimming hole. I mean, how about instead of clicking a button when it’s your friend’s birthday you make them a card. Perhaps have a coffee with an old acquaintance instead of sending several emails that diminish in enthusiasm with each passing response. Join an ACTUAL group, NOT a facebook group.
I’m not sure if it is some underlying assumption that we all have that efficiency equals quality, or a gross social phobia of rejection. But when did people stop calling each other on their birthdays? When did we, instead of confronting people about something that is a tad bit uncomfortable to talk about, we send an email, or worse “block” them? And why, for all that is holy, why and when did we start sending an endless stream of text messages that strings on a simple 2 minute conversation into a day-long commitment?
How does this rant have anything to do with careers in any sense of the word? Well these same pitfalls apply to almost all of our job starved generation. Are social skills are diminishing, along with our empathy and ability to distinguish body language. We have this deep rooted fear in inquiring about an establishment via the phone – so we email. We have a false sense of connectedness to each other because our social networks are no longer social- they are technological and we wonder why no one knows of a job that would be perfect for them among six hundred Facebook friends and countless Twitter followers.
The remedy to all of you jobless YAVIS’s:
Get out of your orthopedic computer chair and get your face out there. This means actually physically communicating with people. Networking beyond computer screens and get in physical contact with the professional world you want to be a part of. You’d be surprised the amount of connections you can make by physically knowing just one person in a professional field.
What do I know? Not a whole lot and granted I don’t expect you to be jumping to take my advice. But ask yourselves these questions – are you happy with your job? What is there to lose?
