We Should See Each Other More And Write Less
Yes, new technologies are helping our relationships survive. However, just because this is so does not mean that all the consequences are good. We are ceasing to see each other in favor of writing to each other and that we cannot allow, we must see each other more and write to each other less.
Today’s contacts are based more on conversations through WhatsApp than on shared coffee cups. Therefore, a direct consequence is that these exchanges are not usually as deep or as rich as those we establish over coffee, looking into each other’s eyes and hugging each other on a cold day.
Because good communication is also established through a hug and reserving time for the people we love should not take so much effort. If we really do not have time, perhaps we should review our day to day and our scale of priorities.
Because taking care of ourselves and our loved ones should not be relegated to the bottom of a list. Because the best talks are not through WhatsApp and because what is truly comforting is, precisely, seeing each other more.
Virtual social networks, enemies of active listening and not seeing each other anymore
There are still very few studies that analyze the impact of the use (or abuse) of social networks on our psychological health and on the creation of stable and, why not say, real social support networks. However, what is being seen is that we have stopped looking into each other’s eyes to communicate something important. That interruptions are constant in shared times and that we are ceasing to practice active listening.
The fact of having a conversation by whatsapp on an important topic makes the participants miss a lot of important information. Data or reflections that will allow us a more precise reading of the problem, in addition to improving the quality of the support that we can offer to the other.
Through social networks we lose ourselves in appearances, in half-truths and forced impressions, reducing the quality of the relationship. We end up not knowing each other by not seeing each other, by not knowing how to read the faces of our friends, by not knowing their true feelings.
Even if the communication is sincere, it will always be incomplete. This is another reason to see us more and write to us less. Furthermore, this fact is not exactly exempt from the devastating cumulative effect . Little by little, we include these communication habits in our day-to-day life and, therefore, we increasingly perceive ourselves in a more distorted way.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) syndrome
The FOMO syndrome refers to the fear of missing something. This fear responds to the need generated to always be online, not to miss any update of what is happening on social networks.
This means that, in the end, the lives of others are more interesting than your own and, therefore, more than real relationships. Its consequences are disastrous for our state of mind because we stop taking care of our life and our environment to cover the fictitious need to control the virtual environment.
The truth is that the need to always be connected and aware of what happens in the cloud limits us when it comes to enjoying people in a real way. The sad reality is that, nowadays, the smartphone is almost always present, which detracts from the quality and warmth of the relationship.
Therefore, we should take it as an obligatory task to put the phone aside when we are with someone and assiduously propose that the contact be real. Because, as we have said before, the best talks are not through WhatsApp. That is why we have to see each other more and avoid that social networks are our only means of contact, since this is a channel through which information travels, but complicity is difficult.
