Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash
“Hello, how are you today?”
The customer service rep was silent…
…”May I help you?”...
“Yes...I asked how are you?”
“...I’m good…and how are you?”
“Oh good, I am good as well. Thank you!”
This exchange may have lasted 6 seconds max, yet it highlighted the transactional nature of most of our community conversations. By community, I mean the physical area encompassing where we live, not the “community” of folks we connect with online. The rep I was speaking with seemed put off by my question. They are not at fault if they were—they were habituated.
Why is that greetings and acknowledgements have fallen out of favor?
Could the answer be technology?
The adoption of technology has definitely resulted in a strong division of US vs THEM. Digitally we are interacting with hundreds to millions of people daily and we only “know” a small number of these folks. THEM may yell at you on social media, call you a pig, threaten your beliefs because they are not shared, etc. The online world is a scary place and it exacerbates our fears. There is plenty of research on how the “echo chamber” creates a positive feedback loop of isolation by feeding you more of the same stuff rather than presenting you with diversity. Ironic that the “world wide web” works more like a net to ensnare you rather than a tool to increase exposure.
Have you found yourself in a similar situation?
Do you feel that this has become more common?
We all bear the responsibility to see the humanity in the people that we meet. Simple acts of acknowledgement and greeting bring us together in a time when so much communication is meant to drive us apart. It might feel weird but maybe if we all try a little bit harder to be “neighborly”, we might just end up being more neighborly.
Just a thought...
Written by: Austin Meyermann, Founder and President of Hunter Crown, LLC
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