Doug's 2024 Christmas Greeting
“Is Technology Taking the 'Human' Out of Our Existence?"
In April of this year (2024) I participated in a Celebration of Life honouring Wayne and Antje Cormier, who both had died recently and only less than three months apart. They were well known in our community and long-term residents until moving to Nova Scotia in 2019. Opening the celebration, M.C. Kevin Barks quoted Maya Angelou who wrote, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Whether or not you remember the words and actions, I certainly believe that we never forget how people made us feel.
As a child I remember our friendly neighbourhood milkman who always had time and a kind word for folks and who often would let me ride in his delivery truck for a few blocks on his route. I remember how I felt when a grade ten marketing teacher gave me confidence in myself when he expressed his belief in my ability. I remember how I felt when my first boss gave me a job with a pile of resumes sitting on her desk between the two of us. And I dearly remember a veteran colleague who on his death bed had words of professional praise for my own work and dedication. I don’t clearly remember word-for-word, but I remember how I felt.
How do people make you feel? How have you made people feel? There are numerous ways in each day that we can reach out and lift people emotionally. You never know what someone is going through in the course of a day but your one act of kindness and genuine concern can be the one thing that turns the day around! Ralph Waldo Emerson wisely said, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Emerson also said, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
The phrasal verb "reaching out" is defined in both the Merriam Webster and Cambridge dictionaries, in part, as making an effort to communicate with a person or a group usually in order to help or involve them. The technology for which we have an insatiable appetite “should” properly and more importantly humanly connect us, but is that really happening?
Roy Hollister Williams, a best-selling author and marketing consultant, who lives in Austin, Texas, wrote in his Monday Morning Memo for December 9, 2024, “The internet promised to bring us closer together through instantaneous, worldwide, one-on-one communication. But then came the algorithms, those digital sheepdogs that segregate us into echo chambers where every voice we hear sounds exactly like our own. He goes on to write that building an online audience is easiest by criticizing and demonizing “them”, those who are not our friends or who are our competition. Algorithms are powerful and effective. Years before the Internet Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”I’m concerned about technology that takes the thinking out of being human, the jobs and careers that used to bring people face-to-face and require teamwork. In the New York Times, 2019, Tristan Harris opines in his article, “Our Brains Are No Match for Our Technology”, we have an addiction to social validation. He describes how bursts of “likes” continue to destroy our attention spans and how these and alerts can render anxiety and a proneness to angry responses rather than with “democratic” debate.
Electronic transmissions have practically replaced a personal handwritten letter or Christmas card. And how about the voice of the self-checkout machines asking, “How did we do today?”. My thoughts are “we” didn’t do anything. I looked for and found the product, talked to no sales clerk and engineered my own checkout! Thank you, but it was I who did okay today, not “we”.
Are we in charge of technology or is technology now taking over our lives? Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate the importance of human contact, to personally and not electronically “reach out”. We often overlook opportunities to show genuine interest in others. As a child I was taught to take an interest in others by being observant and complimentary in what others have and are doing. Asking about family, children, siblings, work, a new car, or vacation shows genuine interest in a fellow human being. That’s reaching out.
And finally, speaking of reaching out and communicating, the art of conversation has never been more important than now. William Hazlitt (1778 – 1830) was an English essayist and who is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language once said, “The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as being heard.” We should remember that the trick to holding a good conversation is knowing when to let go.Don’t get me wrong, technology today has vastly enhanced our lives and opened doors and opportunities never before heard of. But can society really handle the responsibilities which come with these advancements? I’m not so sure. Andrea Loubier, a former contributor to Forbes.com wrote in 2021 about the positive impacts of digital technology, but not without listing negative impacts of which we should be very concerned. She described the excessive use of gadgets and lack of offline communication, and existing social media abuse that have all proven to cause negative effects on mental health. Meanwhile, social media, especially Facebook leaves us prone to comparing our own lives, our jobs, careers and even body image to a perceived “collective perfect world” filled with people who have more material things, more fun, perfect bodies, and who may appear as a “gift” to society.
Throughout the New Year, my wish for individuals and families would be that we each take time, day by day, to seek out an opportunity to personally, directly and sincerely, uplift an individual’s day. While it costs you little time and often no money, your heart will feel great for hours! It’s easy! Extend a compliment, show gratitude, empathy, patience, forgiveness, open a door, run an errand, offer help, volunteer, let someone with fewer purchases get in front of you, let a driver merge into your lane, surprise someone or fellow workers with coffee and donuts, drop off perishable goods to a food bank.
On behalf of my wife Josey and myself, here’s hoping you had a wonderful Christmas and that you’re facing a happy, productive and healthy new year!