Social Media Networking?

From Scott Rankin, President of SMI

This is such an interesting topic. My kids get up every morning and before they say hello or acknowledge that I exist, they open up the computer and start to type at a rapid pace and try to catch up with everything they missed while they were sleeping. I have been told that I talk too much in the morning and that it is not necessary for me to talk at all while driving them to school. I also notice that when we watch a movie as a family, each child has their phone prepared to answer any text that comes their way within seconds of the beep.

So what is it about social networking that has taken over the ability or need to talk? I will admit that I do have a Facebook page that was started for me when I worked at a summer camp to teach teens to be leaders in their communities. They told me the only way that I could stay connected with them was to get this page and then and only then would I be able to access their world. I said, “What about a phone call every month?” I was laughed out of the room as they made it clear to me that talking on the phone was just not done. My kids will not even use the house phone, which seems to have cobwebs on it from lack of use. As far as I know it might be rusted and unusable by now. The cell phone is only
used for late night conversation with boyfriends and girlfriends and is not to be used for casual conversation or to clarify a text that already told the story.

So I am learning to text. I receive a message and immediately start to reply. After my rapid response I will hit send. Of course at that point I have already gotten six other messages in the time it took me to reply. But I can’t read them as fast as they are being presented to me. So I hit the button and call, just to be scolded for talking to them when the message they sent was clear.

But now I see the clear picture that I have missed all along. If they are talking on the phone they can’t text anyone. Clearly I have disturbed the essence of communication by actually talking.

I know I am not telling a new story but it is interesting to see that this will be the means of communication for this generation. If this is not used in business this group will not be able to communicate with them. Someday I can imagine a class in school where they are taught how to talk on a phone just in case that annoying box starts to ring and there is no extremely old person around to answer it.

I remember when the phone rang at our house. How excited I was to answer and see who it was that was entering our house through the magic box. It had a cord attached so I could only work within its short reach. And other people in the room could actually hear what I was talking about. That meant they would be telling me how to respond to the half of the conversation they were hearing. This all seems so ‘70s but somehow it worked.
I suppose this new system of communicating will be just fine until the newest version begins. I can imagine there will be a chip implanted in our heads and we will just think what we want to say. No words will be needed and the ideas will just flow from person to person. If that is the case I am going back to my desk phone, but I will still have my Facebook page just in case one of my kids needs to ask for money or advice. Well, at least money.

Succeed with Passion,

Scott Rankin
President, Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.
scott@vulcanspring.com