When I was returning from Orlando after the MD Expo, my husband and I were sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to board back to NY and I noticed something I have been worrying about for quite some time. As you can imagine, the flight was filled with many children returning from their trip to Disney World. That’s not what worried me; I love kids, but it was what they were doing that made me just a little sad.
There was not one single kid who did not have some sort of electronic device in their hand. Now, granted, it was nice to see that many children entertained and quiet, but it made my long for the days of watching kids actually using their imagination to amuse themselves. I didn’t see one match box car, one Barbie doll or even one stuffed animal. I know these things are still around, but clearly the preference of these kids and parents were electronic toys.
So, good and bad news for our industry. I’m guessing we are going to have an even more technologically savvy workforce. What I fear is that this generation coming up will have more trouble thinking outside the box. I think we are already experiencing some of this. And it’s not just them; we all are used to having a ton of information at our fingertips, whenever we want it. In the service industry, though, it’s not always an immediate fix. We cannot always get things repaired or solved at the first look. Yet our stakeholders need it now, and are used to getting things now. This can create a bit of a stress and leads us to the next good/bad thing. We have to communicate what is happening and to be most successful, that need to be done face to face.
People are more comfortable these days communicating electronically. It started out as a great thing for documenting conversations, which led to the CYA practice and now has conveniently obliterated the desire to converse with people and help them understand the situation. We have to lift our heads, make eye contact and really listen in order to satisfy our customers and co-workers. It’s easy to blame the systems or the software but at the end of the day, we have to come up with a solution for our customers that will satisfy them now and get them through their day as best as we can.
When we pretended as a child, we had to work out our problems without the help of electronics. When we imagined ourselves shipwrecked with no food and water, we could not email or text for help, we had to think outside the box. We had to communicate with our playmate and learn how to get along with each other because they were all we had on Make-Believe Island. We could not put on our headset and play with someone across the county.
I’m not saying we’re doomed. Where would we be without technology? And I totally believe children should enjoy it and learn from it as well. I’m just saying, let’s not forget to look up. Let’s not forget how to use our brain without the help of electronics. We all can use a little make believe from time to time.
Thoughts…….. Contact me at abbe@TECResourceCenter.com