About Face
ILLUSTRATION: PAUL WEARING // PAULWEARING.CO.UK
Where have all the faces gone? They’re kinda of there, in virtual form floating on computer screens or in the palm of our hands on our smart phones. The TV still lingers with images and faces that while seemingly close, are still very far from our reality—especially given our economic and political times. Thomas Friedman in his book, The World is Flat, nailed it when he predicted the dependency of humans on their technology. And how when the world’s offerings could easily arrive at our doorstep within seconds and with little effort, we wouldn’t be able to resist. Yep, we bought every bit of that prediction.
The amount of technology and expectations that we desire, the needs and demands on a daily basis is staggering and has proven we don’t make much room for real faces. Faces in the form of a person, a live conversation, a coffee at the cafe. If we do, it seems to be mostly entertainment which is fine but the real conversations and ideas don’t always get exchanged in those fun moments. Where’s the depth? We’ve become so good at everything digital, we’ve forgotten how to be live, to be present. I remember when typing skills use to be a class, now young children somehow instantly start typing and young college students seemingly type faster than any secretarial profession from the past. Intuition has flourished too. I remember when manuals and trial and error painstakingly showed the way with complicated new things where as today, most tech leverages other tech and therefore any new device or service is being adopted by the user within minutes.
All these advancements seem amazing and obviously deliver much value to our modern lives but they can sometimes create as many problems as they solve. With all of these digital journeys and technical growth, we seem to be missing some real face to face skills. Language has suffered, grammar has plummeted and folks don’t seem to be really connecting. I see colleagues shying away from direct communication instead choosing a long-winded email or cryptic text. Even worse is the onset of ghosting, where everyone does nothing. You don’t to address something, skip communication all together and I guess it will work itself out? This angers most, puzzles others and I guess the masses are learning to accept this mode as a new normal.
Really? Where is the love? Are we that impersonal? Are we that behind? Don’t we miss the cocktail, laughs and ideation with friends, the sharing of an experience, tangible hugs and physical nature of being face to face? Don’t we miss the feel of the weather, the texture of the table, our friend’s freckles and the beautiful linen they are wearing? While the digital world has it’s perks, is it more important than the experience we use to have, can have? Have we traded emotive for efficiency?
Regardless which side of the coin you fall on with any particular day, it’s important to notice and remember what is important about the face to face. The realness and non-verbals that speak volumes that you can not see on a screen, the immediacy in which someone genuinely reacts to a conversation, and the spontaneity of where a live moment can lead to. It can be inspiring, fulfilling and it’s definitely rooted in reality because it’s real. It’s an extended moment and journey versus a quick and binary answer.
Think harder with your next opportunity. Is efficiency paramount or should you be connecting in this moment. Be productive, squeeze every minute from the turnip of time, but never underestimate the power of revisiting more face to face experiences. You might just enjoy and see something that could make your day just beyond the screen. //