There is no doubt that we are experiencing an incredible period in history -- an era in which technology is making the impossible possible. The rise of the internet has made the spread of information and ideas practically instantaneous around the globe. The birth of the smart phone put this connectivity in the hands of pretty much every human being in a first world country. It truly is remarkable. Despite how incredible this era is, there have been some negative side-effects, especially for the younger generations.
The Art of Conversation -- Try calling someone younger than the age of 40. Try calling someone younger than 25. Odds are they didn't pick up. It's actually pretty rare that someone will actually answer the phone when you call them. The world has devolved to text messaging as the primary means of communication. Sure, it's fast and effective in most cases, but we are losing the art of verbal communication. The business world requires verbal communication. There is no such thing as "texting" a client. Email communication is huge as well, but short hand such as "lol", "ttyl", and "brb" are unacceptable in a professional environment. Younger generations, who are growing up in a down economy and a tough job market, are not doing themselves any favors by avoiding verbal communication in favor of texting.
Ignoring People Entirely -- Another side effect of texting is the ability to ignore people entirely. How many times have you messaged someone and you don't get a reply back? The best is when you can see they read your message (via iMessage or Facebook) and they still don't reply. We all do it. Wouldn't you rather the person tell you they don't want to hang out instead of ignoring you completely? Perhaps you should take that into account the next time someone asks you to do something that you don't want to do. It's amazing to me that this is acceptable today. We all have our phones practically attached to us at all times during the day -- there is no way that you "just saw your text" 6 hours later when it doesn't matter anymore.
Punctuality -- When I was around 6th grade, I distinctly remember making plans with my friends to meet up. Whether it was playing wiffle ball in the empty lot or going to eat at Sonic then walk to the local Cinema 4, I can guarantee you that we were all on time. My parents always made sure we made it to all our events/sports/practices/parties/etc. at least a few minutes early. Today, being on time is so rare it's incredible. People are instantly connected to each other, so running late isn't seen as a big deal. If you are one of those people who are constantly running late, just know that you are an annoyance to everyone.
Everyone Knows Everything -- Because of the lack of real-time communication (face-to-face or verbally), suddenly everyone has a built in buffer time to formulate smart/witty comments in every situation. Do you know anyone that seems to be an outgoing genius online, but in real life they are pretty boring? That's because they have the ability to google anything and everything before responding to that political facebook post or that tweet about nothing. Talk to them face-to-face about the same topic and they struggle to regurgitate that article they read without having it right in front of them.
In summary: Answer the phone. Respond to people. Talk to people in person. Be on time. Be yourself.
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