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News & Issues > Anti 'Gizmos/toys' Trend??? Lol
 

Anti 'Gizmos/toys' Trend??? Lol

We're forgetting how to talk face-to-face


Marcia Heroux Pounds

Scott
Garvis and Robert Kelly are in the business of effective communication.
They work well together, but disagree over the use of a BlackBerry.

As president of Dale Carnegie Training of South Florida, Garvis
can't do without his BlackBerry to communicate with his 25 team
members, including Kelly.

"It keeps you attached to people you're working with,'' Garvis says.

Kelly, who runs the Miami region, prefers face-to-face communication.
"People need to see you, know you, understand you,'' he says.

Author Susan RoAne says we've become so attached to our gizmos that
we've forgotten how to have conversations that lead to personal
relationships.

In her new book Face to Face, RoAne says it's time to reclaim the personal touch in this digital world.

"We've forgotten how to behave,'' she says. RoAne observed a woman
who walked into a funeral wearing her Bluetooth, for example.

In her book, she relays the story of a man hoping for a big promotion
who sneaked a peek at his buzzing cell phone during the interview. He
didn't get the job.

When a worker meets with another to discuss a project or meets
with a client, "it's not my space or your space, it's about our
space,'' she says.

So when Garvis is scrolling his BlackBerry while in conversation with
Kelly, "I stop talking,'' Kelly says. "He says, 'Go ahead,' but I say,
'No, I'm going to wait until you're done.' "

"I could work on that a little bit,'' Garvis admits.

When sitting down for a meeting with someone, RoAne suggests laying
down some rules, such as "let's make this a BlackBerry-free 15
minutes.''

"People are appreciating how important interpersonal relations
are. They've never been not important,'' RoAne says. "If we lose the
face-to-face, we lose the bottom line foundation for what we call
relationships.''

Fostering interpersonal collaboration is behind the design of Office
Depot new global headquarters in Boca Raton. The office has 56
"huddle'' areas and meeting rooms to encourage workers to sit down and
chat.

"We all carry around communications devices - BlackBerries, cell phones
and Wi-Fi, but in fact in the course of development of these
innovations we've lost something, and that's person-to-person
interaction,'' says David Fannin, project manager for Office Depot's
new headquarters.

RoAne says some workers use e-mail to avoid conversation. One worker
told her she chose to e-mail because she "didn't like to talk to
people.''

But relying solely on e-mail can delay communication: When this
people-shy worker sent an important e-mail, she didn't find out until a
month later that the person had never gotten her message.

Even technology gurus take time to meet face-to-face with peers, RoAne
says. Lunch 2.0, a meetup for lunch and chat, has become the place to
show up in Silicon Valley and at similar groups around the world.

Garvis of Dale Carnegie is clinging to his BlackBerry for efficiency, but says that building relationships has to come first.

"I still call people every day and spend time on a personal level. The trust is built,'' he says.

Marcia Heroux Pounds can be reached at mpounds@sunsentinel.com or 561-243-6650.

posted on Nov 20, 2008 10:06 AM ()

Comments:

There's something to be said about when and how and why to use "gizmos" and when and how and why not to. The "using" is what younger generations are really into and something may need to be done about the importance of interaction with others on a personal level and doing some functioning without the gizmos. Older generations are usually the ones that prefer not using gizmos and something may need to be done to get them to accept and utilize gizmos. All this while not giving up on their personal preferences. Those who are somewhat in the middle generation and some who might "spill over" into the younger way of thinking or the older way of thinking probably already have a balance.
comment by donnamarie on Nov 21, 2008 5:08 AM ()
I think some of this is a generational thing. I have to admit that I don't bring my cell phone certain places because it is inappropriate. I am not sure that I agree that tech is placing barriers to socialization. In fact, a study came out this week highlighting how cell phones and social networking sites are increasing sociability in today's adolescence. This includes skills used when interacting online and in person.
AJ
comment by lunarhunk on Nov 20, 2008 12:31 PM ()
The only thing that I carry around is my hearing aid and cell phone
comment by fredo on Nov 20, 2008 10:24 AM ()

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