by Lisa Jeffery, MBA, MA
The internet has taken hold of our world faster than we can catch up with it. Statistics show that workers lose an average of six minutes a day of productivity, dealing with email alone. This adds up and effects organizations of all sizes. And the use of websites are evolving and changing rapidly. It was just some two years ago that blogs emerged, and some professionals have found them more effective than costly websites. They are becoming a way for us to communicate - an expression of ourselves, just like we do when we talk. Even interpersonal relationships have changed because of the internet, as couples have met, and developed a relationships, and many relationships have been destroyed through emails (snooping from exes, discovering infidelity through email, etc.) This is powerful stuff!
So things are changing, evolving, and we are developing new ways to communicate, to express ourselves, to conduct business, to interact.
But the evolution is not just taking place on the internet and our exterior worlds, it's taking place in our brains too. As we write more, use our eyes more for our increasingly visual world, information is traveling regularly through our brain in ways that it did not before, changing the dendrites and the "grey matter" that makes up the executive center or our brain. Studies show that our 21st century eyes view as many as 2,000 visuals per day. Our eyes have 100 million sensors in the retina and only five million channels from the brain to the retina, so much information is filtered out from our conscious mind, but nonetheless is stored in our memories. Will this disparity in sensors and receptors in the visual information age begin to change our brains? Also the increase in writing to communicate through emails regularly works out our brain like a workout at the gym.
Young children are developing new parts of their brain at a very early age. The book
The Indigo Children mentioned that because of the change in the way we use our brains, young children are able to use more of their of their brains. Published in mid 1999, this book by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober is describes The Indigo Child as "a boy or girl who displays a new and unusual set of psychological attributes, revealing a pattern of behavior generally undocumented before. This pattern has singularly unique factors that call for parents and teachers to change their treatment and upbringing of these kids to assist them in achieving balance and harmony in their lives, and to help them avoid frustration."
Carrol and Tober answer many of the often-puzzling questions surrounding Indigo Children.
1. Can we really be seeing human evolution in kids today?
2. Are these kids smarter than we were at their age?
3. How come a lot of our children today seem to be "system busters"?
4. Why are so many of our brightest kids being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)?
5. Are there proven working alternatives to Ritalin?
Throughout this work, they bring together some very fine minds (doctors, educators, psychologists, and more) who shed light on the Indigo Child phenomenon." http://www.indigochild.com/
I believe that this phenomenon is why CNN, and later all the major television networks, changed their format to have three or four things going on at once on the screen. While the older people complained that this was too confusing, too messy, the younger people were pleased because their minds were accustomed to three or four things going on at once. Could this be a change in human evolution?
So something bigger than us is happening here! So we are on the cusp of becoming more evolved human beings. But we are not quite there yet, which sometimes makes it difficult to deal with all of this.
If you feel overwhelmed from the rapid increase in technology, and the overload in your brain, don't despair -- You are part of a trail-blazing generation at the opening of the 21st century. You are a
border crosser into a new level in evolution and communication. While it may seem overwhelming, there are ways to help take control over our new level human communication now -- and to adjust to make the transition less confusing.
Living in an information age requires us to take more control over our lives, by deciding how to use new technologies. The increase use of
"ethnotronics" --
smaller, more personal technologies that have interactive cultural characteristics -- have literally altered how we perceive time and space. They have changed our lives.
Ethnotronics include cell phones, the new trend in Personal Communications Systems (PCSs) cameras and copiers in our cell phones, etc. We can use these time and space-shifting things to make our life confusing or we can learn to manage them. Call forwarding, call waiting, instant messaging have all created conditions that reinforce certain behaviors.
Here are my
four crucial tips for dealing with the new frontiers in communication in the information age. :
1.
Don't let multiple lines and call waiting effect your priorities, your relationships - both professional and personal. Remember the telephone is there for
YOUR convenience,
not the caller's. Don't be a slave to your phones and the internet.
2.
Learn to limit distractions in your communication. Instant messaging while you are doing something else, and cell phone interruptions while you're having a face-to-face conversation might not be the best way to manage new technologies. Remember, you are in control, they are not, and simply turn them off and put yourself first. Set up some structures and draw boundaries for the use of technologies in your life to achieve balance. Have that lunch with your friend - take cell phone calls later.
3.
Work to improve your listening skills. With so many technologies, ethnotronics and distractions we have forgotten that listening is not a
passive activity it is an
active activity. Listening skills can be learned and practiced. Learning them can make a huge impact on your life.
(See my Listening Skills workshop and articles to come.)
4.
Avoid Mind/Communication overload. Give your mind a break. The left side of the brain tires easily, and passes the job to right side, making it harder to concentrate, creating a type of narcotization. If you have not learned some type of mediation or relaxation technique, learn one! (See my suggestions later) This will help you to clear your mind from all this noise in the information age, to sort it out and refuel!
