Texting, web surfing, internet intuition, general computer knowhow and dexterity are fundamental skills of our up and coming generations. These skills are required in the context of today’s socialization.
The digital world pushes us further away from each other as living, breathing individuals and converts our personalities to one-dimensional “faces.” We can present the exact face we want the world to see, and it may or may not be accurate.
The art of communication is eroding- replaced by a strange protective shell that shields the individual from any conflict or interaction that may generate emotional risk.
As more of our existence and daily work moves online, the more we see changes in how business is conducted. The boutique hardware store has perished in the wake of a newly-built Home Depot. Yet everything at Home Depot is now available online.
Man has always sought escape from harsh reality, but to live full-time in a virtual reality, free of conflict and full of sensory stimulation, without any need for personal contact with other human beings, controlled by The State (gotta watch the movie, Sleeper, with Woody Allen) is not a future that I find appealing.
As technology and the insidious virus we call “information” take over more and more of our daily affairs, the Art of Selling seems to be heading down the road of obsolescence. Who will need to know the value of looking someone straight in the eye without flinching? Why bother teaching body language or nuanced mannerisms? Who will care about cultural and language differences?
Eventually, when it all boil down to texting, we will truly be only as good as our words.