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True Life: We’re Socially Awkward.


“Hey wyd” “Nthn, you?” “Nothing just thinking about you, i miss you!! *inserts kiss face*” “ikr, same here. Luv you” “ily2”

Normal conversation right? Text messages, emails, social media posts have become our favorite way to communicate. It doesn’t take much thought to shoot someone a text saying you miss them or just wanted to check in, but it’s starting to come at a cost. The day has come where the power lies in the all mighty keyboard. It’s become so easy to just type what you feel.

Ever wonder how some of your favorite people from twitter are in person? Or how you could spend hours texting someone and then the day you guys meet there’s nothing to talk about. It’s because of the all mighty keyboard! It’s almost like we’ve sold our souls to technology. We forget to check in on family members and friends because we’re so used to waking up, rolling over, and checking our social networks that it’s like speaking to them all at once. But where’s the intimacy? What happened to calling your mom on Mother’s Day, or your grandparents for Christmas? Why does it seem like so much trouble to call someone that you’re really into and talk all night? Even better what happened to meeting someone new IN PERSON? We’ve become socially awkward.

Take a budding relationship for instance… A guy and a girl have been partaking in a courtship for about a year, but majority of their relationship’s peeks have been experienced through text! Their first L word encounter, their hot sexting conversations, even their event planning, all took place in the comfort of their inbox. They’re the perfect couple when they are away from each other, a bunch of smiley faces, and confessions of how much they truly care for each other. But when they’re finally face to face it isn’t the same. The person that they’ve fallen madly in love with can’t even find the words to say it to their face. Or the free spirit wild child becomes too shy to get freaky in the bedroom. How about when one believes that the relationship has taken off a lot faster than the other and is on the verge of announcing premature wedding bells. It’s because they have yet to connect physically and are not used to speaking those words in the presence of others. And why should they be, not with this handy dandy keyboard man built for us right?! Wrong.

Even in professional spaces, we’ve forgotten how to connect with people when we are in their space. In the past couple of years I’ve never seen so many people scared to speak in my life. I’ve participated in my fair amount of presentations, be it group or individual and everyone seems so uncomfortable. Like they don’t know how to express themselves as if they didn’t type the very same words that they have to speak. I’ve encountered some of the brightest college students that walk in and out of interviews disappointed because of their lack of interpersonal skills. Now I know some believe that there is such thing as “not being a people’s person” but honey get real, everybody needs somebody. You must remember your ABC’s, always be selling but to do that you have to open your mouth.

So let’s try this out and get our brains working again, you know for old times sake! Opt out of texting sometimes and just call to hear someone's voice, or set up a lunch just to catch up. I’m not saying do away with our convenient source of communication because trust me I love it as much as the next, I’m just suggesting it not be our ONLY source! (Remember words without physical contact/action are left for various interpretation)

It isn’t fact nor fiction, just my opinion! -Kandi

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