Technology: Does It Connect or Disconnect Us?

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cell phone, communication, community, connecting, family, First World Problems, friends, social, social media, stories, technology, Tourist in my own city

A recurring conversation I find myself a part of, is whether technology has marked the end of connecting with people or opened up a way to connect that would not have been possible in days gone by.

Louise wrote on Monday in her post 52 Acts of Grace l week 2 about how difficult it is to share even a smile with people on the sidewalk or C-train, because most folks seem to be staring at the tiny screen on their cell phone.

I’m sure we can all share tales of being at meetings or out with friends only to be interrupted or completely ignored because someone is texting or Facebooking or Tweeting or taking selfies or…

I’ve been guilty of it myself.

I have a friend who admonishes me every time I take a picture, convinced that I’m missing the real-life-sized experience when I’m looking at it through the screen of my Blackberry Q10.

And I admit that any picture I’ve ever taken pales in comparison to the beautiful beach, mountain range or sunset I view in person with my own eyes.

Maybe while trying to capture the moment, I lose it all together.

And then there’s safety!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking down the street and I have to stop dead in my tracks, because the person approaching me is staring at that screen, completely unaware of what’s going on around them.  I cannot guess if they will go left or right and so I stop. When they finally sense my presence it shocks them – some have even given me dirty looks!

More frightening are the times I cross the street and someone making a right-hand turn while using their device narrowly avoids hitting me with their car. I’ve learned to make eye contact before stepping into the cross walk.

So when I read Louise’s post on Monday, I mentioned I was texting on Easter Sunday. I couldn’t be with my family. My brother and his family and my mom were having lunch at the Willows Inn in Hudson, Quebec and the next best thing to being there was texting each other Easter wishes and real-time photos.

So you see sometimes technology does connect us. Only problem is, I was walking while texting and almost tripped on a crack in the sidewalk!

Below, the pictures we took and shared in real-time

Mom and Mike at Willows Inn

Me on the corner of 14th Str and 13 Ave SW

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

So what do you think? Does technology connect or disconnect us?

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I Don’t Know What Time It Is

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200 words, alarm clock, Blackberry, communication, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, humour, phone calls, Relationships, technology, texting, unplug, world issues

There are few times that I feel more at peace, more in tune, more Zen, if you will, than when I force myself to unplug. ~ Harlan Coben

Really?

I’m not so sure Harlan.

Because I keep reaching for it, but it’s not there.

I don’t know what time it is, having gotten rid of the clock several years back.

I don’t know how I’ll wake up on time to go to work tomorrow. I threw out my radio/alarm clock a few days ago.

What if someone needs to call me? I got rid of my landline a year ago.

What if I miss an important text? What if someone’s crushed because they think I’m ignoring them?

Those were my thoughts on Wednesday when I forgot my Blackberry at work. I noticed at home when I reached into that special compartment of my purse.

“No biggie,” I thought. “I’ll update my Facebook to let people know I forgot my phone. I’ll send an email to work, if I’m not there it’s because there’s no alarm to wake me.”

No biggie

Peace? In tune? Zen?

That’s not what I felt…

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Do you reach for it when it’s not there?

Dear Government of Alberta

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Alberta, Calgary, communication, confusion, Diana Schwenk, Flu shot, Government of Alberta, health, Hump Day Chronicles, integrity, key messages, Purpose, rant, world issues

Re: The Flu Season and what you’ve told us about it.

Photo credit: hellogiggles.com

Let me begin by saying that I appreciate your attempt to communicate with Albertans. Really.

Also, I would like to extend my prayers for comfort and sympathy to those who have lost loved ones to the Flu.

Now, on to reason that I am writing to you and the business of keeping the public informed.

Please find following, a list of the messages you have shared with Albertans during the 2014 Flu season:

• Everyone should get the Flu shot
• Unless 90% of people get the Flu shot the larger population is compromised
• The Province has enough Flu shots for 23% of the population
• The Province is disheartened that only 42% of medical staff have gotten the Flu Shot
• The Province says they’re not sure how effective the Flu shot is if under 85% of the population gets it.
• 12 people have died from the Flu
• 10 people have died from the Flu
• 8 people have died from the Flu
• Calgary has 2 centres offering the Flu shot. Some people wait 4 hours to get their shot.
• People don’t have to panic. Really, we’re OK. Sure the more who get the Flu shot the better. (We’re really not sure what the threshold percentage is.)

WHAT???

Now I’m not saying that there isn’t a logical explanation for the contradictions above. You say you typically secure a certain amount of the vaccine and end up throwing some out because you’ve over estimated how many people will get their shots. I’ve also heard speculation that you were just way better at getting the ‘you-should-get-your-shot’  message out this year.

But you’ve got to admit that your messaging has created confusion and panic, and it doesn’t really matter if you have it all straight in your own heads if the rest of us don’t understand. Some of us, throughout this Flu season have felt manipulated by your messaging, at the very least, trust was broken.

Not being one to just point out errors, I thought I might also provide you some suggestions for next time.

A list of strategies you may consider for the next time:

• Plan out and have your communication strategy ready by August
• Get everybody who needs to be involved into the same room.
• Get your facts and key messages down on paper and agree on them
• Make sure your facts are accurate
• Make sure everybody is singing from the same song sheet
• Select your spokesperson(s) and make sure they’re well versed in your key messaging and can articulate the message clearly.
• If your spokesperson(s) can’t stick to the accurate, thoroughly researched, factual key messages you’ve bothered to put together, consider releasing the information on a fact sheet and leave it at that.

While you’re at it, you may ask yourselves what the common areas of concern are, i.e., what’s in the flu shot, what are the risks, is it true there are fish byproducts in the vaccine and what if I’m allergic to fish, or eggs for that matter  questions and include that information in your messaging instead of directing people to a long dissertation that no one can find on your website.

And for pity’s sake, if you don’t know the answer to something, just say so and tell us you’re looking into it and will get back to us. And then ACTUALLY get back to us. We can respect that.

You’re welcome!

Diana Schwenk, just another Albertan

Understanding what motivates others; is it important?

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actions, behaviour, building community, communication, community, Diana Schwenk, Hump Day Chronicles, motivation, perspective, projecting onto others, Relationships, understanding

On Sunday, I wrote this post about kindness and just in case you don’t want to go back and read it, let me tell you the gist of it.

I wrote about a man who can be like a bull in a china shop when pursuing his goals. And then, as if out of left field, can commit a random act of kindness by plugging ‘almost expired’  parking meters as he walks down the street.

Then along comes mrsfringe and comments, “Love your story, but I’d guess filling the meters has much to do with a sense of just/unjust.”  And by golly, I believe she’s right! Because I worked with him for many years, I know this man had worked his way to the top because he believed that he could make more of an impact on this world in a systemic way than he could by dealing with individuals on the floor. So what if you have to bowl over a few folks on the way if your end goal will create a better system, right?

Change the system and in the long-run you change the situation for all individuals.

Change the system and you create justice and equality.

And if you can’t change the system, buck the system by plugging almost expired, money-sucking, ‘when you know your meeting is an hour and they only let you pay for 30 minutes max and are counting on you to forget to come back and pay more’ therefore enabling them to issue a parking ticket, stupid parking meters.

That’ll teach the powers that be!

Ok so why does it make a difference whether he plugged the meters out of kindness or out of a sense of justice?

Whatever the reason, the people who were parked there were spared the cost of a $30 parking ticket and that’s all that mattered to them.

So why is understanding someone’s motivation important?

So glad you asked!

Understanding why someone does what they do is a great place to start in any relationship or collaboration. And sometimes, it can even relieve the stress that you are feeling from the actions of someone else.

For example, a few years back an organization that I worked for hired a company to help us understand our individual core personality traits and also create job personality profiles for our vacant positions. With this tool we would be able to hire people who were well-suited for specific jobs. The premise being that if you hire the right person the first time the organization wins by saving costs. And the employee wins because they are well-equipped to do the job and have a better chance of excelling.

All the leadership in our organization took the test and the owner of the consulting company (lets call him Bill)  reviewed the results with us as a group. I won’t get into how amazing and revealing these results were but suffice it to say it was a remarkable and eye-opening experience. When my profile was projected onto the wall for all to see, Bill pointed at me and said…

“You’re always asking questions! And when people answer them you ask more questions.

You are full of ideas and you are constantly voicing them.

Have you ever stopped to think about how that makes your staff feel?

I’ll tell you how they’re feeling…they’re thinking they have to scramble and implement all those ideas and there’s not enough time in the day to do that!”

He was right of course.

They thought I was questioning their work and time management.

They thought I was inferring that they weren’t measuring up to some impossible ideal.

They thought this because the only way they could ever imagine asking so many questions themselves is if they were concerned about how someone else was doing their job.

The reason I ask lots of questions is because I’m curious to know what my team thinks. I ask lots of questions because I want to understand things and I want to empower others to take ownership. And yes I have a lot of ideas that I toss out there. I do it for feedback – I honestly want to know if people think my ideas have merit. And if they do have merit I want to know if they think we have the resources to implement them. And because that’s how I think, I just presumed everyone would think that way and know that that was what I was doing.

So is knowing someone’s motivation for what they do important?

I think so. Sure those who benefited from their meters being topped up didn’t care about what motivated this man to do it. But understanding what motivates him was valuable to me because I worked with him day-in and day-out.

Knowing how my questions affect others is also helpful to me. Now when I am trying to understand a situation or want to throw ideas out into a room full of people, I start with a preamble that makes my motivation clear to those present.

Have you ever misjudged someone based on your perspective of what would motivate you to do what they are doing?

Or have you ever been misjudged based on someone else’s perspective of what would motivate them to do what you are doing?

~ THE HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

What is your perspective!