Bill Nelson

As you walk around these days you cannot help but notice that how we communicate is rapidly changing. These changes have come about for many different reasons, one of the main being technology. In this day and age we use technology to increase and strengthen our communication process.

We use:

Mobile phones, Email,VOIP, Blogging, Podcasting, Instant messaging, Text messaging etc etc etc.

But you know what, as good as this stuff is, it is taking away the need and ability to be able to communicate one on one and face to face.

As an example think about the places you used to spend time talking with your family:

At the breakfast table of a morning. Travelling in the car. At the family evening meal.

Then bring in technology to those situations and many more and you see where things are going from a strength to a weakness.

Traveling in the car is near impossible each kid as their mp3 player jammed in their ears. Evening meal discussion (if everyone is there) over the evening news. Or in between SMS messages from friends or Blackberry email messages from the office. Breakfast discussions in between the radio belting out the news or watching the morning breakfast shows on TV.

Face to face meetings are disrupted because the mobile rings or in comes an important email message.

My point is simple use technology and the like to expand our opprtunity to comunicate but dont let it take away from the best form of communication there is that being face to face. I know not always possible but make that the exception not the norm.

Oh and yeah spend time with the family doing nothing other than talking. And if the kids find it hard educate them on how to do it better, because somewhere and at sometime in their life they are actually going to have to talk to someone face to face and be able to string three sentences or more together.