Have you ever asked yourself, how dependent you are on technology?
Whether it be our mobile phones, social media or our IT systems we use at work, we have all become hyper-dependent on technology in our lives.
Now technology can be a major advantage, but what happens when it fails or gets in the way, and what can we do to mitigate that dependence when things fail?
At SCO, we’ve been dealing with our own technology challenge in the last few weeks, where our computer booking and till system ‘went down’ and what seemed like it should be a simple fix (installing a new icon on the reception computer desktop), took out IT team 2 weeks to sort out.
Two weeks is a long time without your critical technology and had a major impact on customer service and administration in that time [thanks for sticking with us as we struggled through], but we muddled through it and it made us reflect on what we need to have in place if it happens again.
We also see it in our visiting customers. Be it our school groups with teachers desperate to get access to wifi so they can catch up on the latest episodes of Eastenders while the kids are on the lake, or customers asking whether our tipis come with electric points to charge phones or laptops.
And then of course you get the impact of email and social media in our world. There appears to be a general expectation that we should all 'always be on' and available 24/7 these days - Does anyone remember the days when phones were hard-wired into your house and if you didn’t answer, the world didn’t end?
At SCO we get social media questions and comments at all hours of day and night and people expect an almost instantaneous response. In fact, you even get ranked about how responsive you are to messages on Facebook these days and you start measuring yourself against an unobtainable benchmark.
So here’s my challenge to you… Decide to leave technology behind; Have a digital holiday once a month; Remind yourself not to touch your phone when in other people’s company; Disconnect from the digital world in order to reconnect with the real world for a while.
It’s an enigma that with all these methods of communication and ways to connect with people, that we feel more disconnected and isolated than ever before. Lonliness and depression are more prevalent in society than ever before and yet we have more ways to reach out and connect with people than at any time in human history. But, real connections happen when you put the technology down, you look in peoples eyes, you talk, you laugh, you open up and you fully engage and become present in the moment and with the world and people around you.
So next time you visit us, leave the technology behind. Give yourself a well earned break from it. Reconnect with loved ones, family, or friends or just fully experience the environment you’re in.
You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes and how good you feel about yourself and life afterwards… You might even learn a few ways of engaging with the world that don’t require technology… And here’s the best part…
The world will keep spinning; You friends will still be there; You didn’t miss anything on Facebook, and learning to thrive without the crutch of technology can only be a good thing for you and those around you.