It is hard to remember a time without cell phones or social media that has us connected at every point in our lives. I mean, really try and think back to the time when it was possible not to be reached every second of the day. It may be easier for some, but for me it is a big fuzzy line. It just happened one day. Some say you can still achieve zero contact, but a weird thing happens when people are unreachable. People get angry. "why didn't he pick up? I know he isn't busy." This weird transition that we made happened almost over night. People no longer can just be out of contact. It is unacceptable if they are. That brings with it a lot of great things and a lot of awful things.
One of the consequences of our "Always Reachable" age is that divorce is at an all time high in America. I think that Facebook, and social media sites as well as cell phones play a huge role in destroying marriages. Back before social media people met each other but usually were highly restricted to the town or surrounding area where they lived. You met someone, got married and had a family and that was that. Now, there is an unlimited amount of people at your fingertips. Ex's can find you, you no longer have a small pool of people to pick from, and the ease of being able to find someone has increased exponentially. The biggest thing out of all of those reasons though is that you have so many different people to choose from. People can control who they talk to and don't have to answer a message from someone, but just the sheer number of relationships at our fingertips is overwhelming.
There are also benefits to these changes as well. Market and business expansion has increased at an astounding rate because of increased accessibility and new markets are growing daily. I can order a product from China and it can be on my door step tomorrow morning if I choose that way. 50 years ago that was unheard of. The expansion beyond America was unheard of. Now people are no longer just people, they are moving business machines that can connect with their clients at any point they want. Completely and 100% able to adapt and get the data they need for their changing business environment. It is an incredible opportunity that we have as mobile business stations. We can make deals from anywhere in the world and expand product to previously unreachable markets, all from the screen of a smartphone. Another large impact that cell phones and social media has had is an increase in safety for people, especially children. Parents can track their children and at all times have a way to be in contact with them. This can be more dangerous than you would think. It has the potential to lure parents into a false sense of security. Extending the leash a bit too far can have terrible consequences. It also is positive because it provides the parent with the knowledge of what their child is up to. There are pros and cons to the increase use of technology, we just have to be smart enough to not get trapped.
In the end technology is going to advance regardless of what is good or bad about it. We have the amazing opportunity to harness it and be more effective businessmen, increase safety for ourselves and our children, and connect with so many different unique people. But we can also destroy ourselves and those around us if we are not careful with the technology at our fingertips.
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