Human Contact is the First Frontier
Ancient civilizations migrated because they were curious to search what was beyond the hill and knew they could rely on human contact to resettle. They tapped into their imagination and dreamed about what they’d discover when they kept moving along unexplored paths.
Today, we have Google Earth to travel and explore on the internet, allowing us to view stunning landscapes and gorgeous places around the globe. All we have to do is type a location or address in the search bar, and we’ll be taken right to the street. A friend of mine once sent me a photo of her apartment in Barcelona from Google Maps and asked me if that was me in the picture.
We can even zoom in or out to see the topography up close or from a greater perspective via satellites. We can go to practically any place in the world and learn how people live and observe their environment.
The art of interaction with each other is being lost. Indeed, the smallest human contact with a sales assistant sometimes provides a connection with another human being and in essence feeds the spirit and soul of a city.
Human Contact is An Opportunity to Address Gaps
Humans contact is fundamental, core issue for a healthy person to thrive. According to research, “It has been found that touch calms our nervous center and slows down our heartbeat. Human touch also lowers blood pressure as well as cortisol, our stress hormone. It also triggers the release of oxytocin, a hormone known for promoting emotional bonding to others.”
Limiting the amount of exposure to other individuals and one-on-one contact is creating a crisis in the world.
Too much focus is placed on the technology or platforms to voice opinions, and not enough on integrating the value of the content into benefiting life.
Yes, we can blame technology for the increased isolation in our society, but technology alone isn’t at fault. When we look back on our history, we’ll notice different periods—such as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Industrial Age—and see that each era had its own revolution and growing pains.
The invention of the lightbulb in the twentieth century brought one of the biggest disruptions humanity has ever experienced, and yet very few blame the lightbulb for the chaos it caused in our lives. This one invention allowed us to increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace, as people could now work around the clock, and the night shift was born.
Today, the smartphone has replaced the lightbulb, making it possible to connect with other people 24/7 and challenging the forty-hour, five-day workweek business model. The lightbulb effect has morphed into mobile devices, changing our relationships in both business and personal arenas, and disrupting the way we used to balance how we spent our time.
And today, we live in a world where everything is vying for our attention. So many of us are too stressed out to take a breath and see what’s truly going on.
Becoming Conscious that What We Need is Within Reach
We can stay conscious of our immediate surroundings as opportunities to connect. By handing over our power to our devices, we’re allowing them to sit in the driver’s seat and drive us.
Perhaps we may feel less lonely when we put our focus on what is right in front of us and engage with it—be it cooking, baking, nature, films, reading, hikes, etc. This will allow us to integrate and use the technologies that we find valuable to enhance our life instead of seeing them as another place to go
In ancient communities, people gathered, had conversations and made decisions on a daily basis. Some sat around a fire early in the morning, drank tea together and decided whether they would hunt or fish.
Maybe human connection and dialogue are ancient technologies that many of us are missing in our daily life today?