I think cellular phones will continue to be the #1 way we get a hold of each other in this generation. At the same time, the internet is running a powerful second.
I think Facebook is a cool thing because I look up and down the status stream finding people I know, and some I don’t, “getting each other.” As a dad I am always hoping to “get” my kids. My wife wants me to “get” her and of course, I reciprocate that want. Getting people and being “gotten” is the primary thirst in the world today. People want recognition.
When I worked for Pizza Hut as a restaurant manager, we were trained in a program that centered on recognition. There were cards you could write on and give to anyone in the store recognizing a good thing they had done. It was an incredible idea. I think those cards should be at every workplace. It was said in those trainings that a person whill do more for recognition than they will for monetary gain. I think in many cases, that is true.
People tend to look at the internet as an impersonal place but the truth is, it’s connectig millions of flesh and blood human beings. We are no longer sparated by the confines of our homes, church, and pizza place. Now, we can regularly have conversations with people anywhere on the globe at any given time. I think this is a very good thing. We break down walls when we forge new relationships. When we connect with people on the web, or in real life, we compare and contrast our hearts and minds.
I can’t think of a time in my life when this sort of platform for connection existed. I started on the internet in about 1995. I really got into it in 2006 when I started blogging. In between I met hundreds of people who have shaped my view of the world. Some I still email, others are gone forever in the cesspool of nothingness. Does a forum post exist if no one reads it? These are the new philosophies of the internet.
People use the internet and specifically social media like Facebook to “get” someone. We all have that banal need to connect, as illustrated beautifully in this Alarm song from the 80’s:
Someone write me a letter
I need to know that I’m still alive
Someone give me a telephone call
I need to hear a human sound
Someone open up a door
And let me out of this place
I’ve been caged up for oh so long
I don’t know if I’m living or dying
Social media and the internet is doing great things for humans “getting” each other. May it connect a million more, may it prevent suicide, may it show us things about ourselves and our planet and our soldiers and our poor … etc.
Get it?
Enjoy “Strength” by The Alarm feat. Dave Sharp: