Smartphones aren’t so smart. I mean, they couldn’t just walk (or run) around, do math, bench press and actually survive without….. yes, you guessed it….. people. The problem is, people are people.
As you may know, I teach sales people for a living. Some of them are tech savvy, some, not so much. They pretty much all agree, however, that while technology has changed some of the ways we do business and the equipment we utilize for doing that business, it has not really demonstratively changed the people with whom we do business.
Is it easier for me to connect with the multitudes of people the I have and have not really met? Yes. Is it easier for me to connect with the universe via Al Gore’s wonderful invention? Yes. And here’s the biggie …. can I reach out to people with lightening fast speed and efficiency? YES, Yes, and hell yes!!!!
For the record, some smartphone stats shared by bankmycell.com.
- The average time spent on smartphones is 171 minutes a day (2hrs 51mins)
- The average time spend on smartphones AND tablets is 261 minutes a day (4hrs 33mins)
- The average user spends 76 minutes a day (1hr 16mins) on the top 5 social media apps
- The average user will tap, swipe, click their phone 2,617 times a day
- Out of 18-29-year-old smartphone owners surveyed, 22% check their phone every few minutes,
- 51% check a few times an hour
(Source: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/smartphone-addiction/#chapter2)
So, given all this unbelievable activity, Do people get back with me with that same lightening fast speed because of the incredible technology tools we have at our disposal? Ah, not so much, and herein lies the problem. At the other end of that smartphone, iPad, computer, email, text, tweet, insta story, or tiktok post is a person who may not be quite as quick or may not share my need for speed (in fact, they may not even think that I or my message is nearly as important as I do). Maybe it’s me. I am not blind to the possibility that I am either a) boring, b) don’t have any real friends, or c) have lousy friends, or d) all of the above. Nonetheless, it isn’t the technology that is behind the problem.
I have a theory about this. I think the same people who weren’t answering your (and my) voicemail yesterday, aren’t answering your (or my) text or email today. Maybe instead of more and more technology courses, maybe we need some people to people courses.
Just sayin’.
Enjoy…….