“The computer is incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation” .
So said Leo Cherne, an American economist. A great quote.
And there are lots of examples of this ‘marriage’ achieving phenomenal things.
But sadly, from a communication angle, computers/tech often cause bad things too:
- Too impersonal. Tech makes it so easy to communicate, that we often email when we should be phoning, have headphones in when we should be listening, etc
- Too controlling. We often say “I don’t have time”. But that’s because we’re slaves to our computer diary – we do what it says. And if it’s full, we say there’s no time to do other stuff
- Too addictive. We check our phones too often – prioritising people who are not in the room, over the people who are. We see this at work, at home, in the bedroom…
But as Leo Cherne says, we are the brilliant ones; not computers. So be in charge:
- Call people – don’t email them
- Diarise your priorities (family time, important meetings etc) and make everything else fit round them
- Leave your smartphone in your bag
Are you in charge of your technology?
Or is it the other way round? If so…