I brought my children up to be polite, well-behaved and courteous individuals that will socialise easily in most company. I did not bring them up to avoid using all of the human senses to communicate.
I suppose I would be called "old school" or just "Old" to some people, particularly the latest generation as I am a little over 25. I like to talk to people, look at them and interact with them on a p-touch level. I like to hear the inflection in their voice, hear how they respond to questions and most of all build a rapport with them, even build a friendship. Call me old fashioned and even romantic but I am a recruiter and in the people business for the above reasons and we cannot be good at what we do living in an e-touch world.
The younger generation seem to think that it is easier to communicate using technology and that instant gratification and urgency is the only way, not wanting to wait for an answer, not wanting to understand the other person's point of view, making assumptions based on a one-line text, BBM, WhatApp or email. The e-touch generation is upon us!
But this e-touch generation is influencing the previous p-touch generation by developing systems that take the human element out of commerce. Take my industry for example; we are being put under so much pressure to use online portals to communicate with our clients, because as with the e-touch generation it saves more time, it saves management the hassle of reading CVs or even talking to recruiters.
The importance of what we do is being lost in some of our clients minds and they are being driven by cost and the hassle factor. The point is that the product that we source for our clients is human beings that could add huge value to their business, change the culture of organisations, innovate, create and change lives. Not having the right people will cost you more money and be more hassle than not.
Anyway I digress. I see people endlessly on their smart phones "phubbing" sitting in a group at a table talking to everyone else but the people around them - e-touch generation! This is not limited to my daughter and her friends, I see this at business lunches, golf courses and all the places that we used to believe relationships were formed and business was generated. Are we losing the p-touch generation?
Hell no!
We will prevail, we "the old", the "p-touch" generation, welcome innovation, we welcome and have fun with social media, short messaging apps and believe it is enhancing our lives and is the future, but e-touch will never replace p-touch, the human race still communicates better when we communicate with our senses. I know you now can get an app for just about anything, but not yet to replace the way she smells when you first meet her, or the look in his eye and his smile. Nothing replaces the five senses that we as the human race developed so brilliantly.
Let's not lose the ability to use them; we will all be better for it!
