This blog is about a TED talk that G. RileyMills gave. He is a communication consultant and book author who travels around the world and gives speeches about communication. This speech is titled, “Are we killing communication?”, and it is about exactly what the title suggests. He talks about technology, more specifically mobile cellphones and how they are affecting the way we communicate and are becoming a barrier.
He mentions that human beings have “two basic desires when it comes to communication” and those are “to understand and to be understood”. It continues by saying that “neither of those things can happen if technology becomes a barrier”. Nowadays, there are more than 5 billion cellphones in the world which makes us interact with people in different ways. Since it is safe to say that almost everyone has a cellphone, they are taking all our attentions and we are not being “fully present” in the moment. He continues by saying that there was a study from the University of Texas at Austin that suggests that your ability to think and concentrate is reduced when your cellphone is in reach. This is just more evidence that phones are a distraction. Since we are less present and focused on our cellphones we often forget to communicate with people around us. He finishes by saying that technology should be enhancing, not preventing human interactions.
I completely agree with what Mills is saying in his speech.We are in danger of killing communication, but not yet. As he says, “giving someone your complete” attention is “essential if you want to truly connect with them”, and that’s not happening anymore. I have experienced a lack of attention from people who are distracted on their cellphones. It has also been the other way around as I have done the same thing. I have been using my cellphone watching something else and becoming disassociated with my surroundings. I have also noticed something else in kids who are growing with all this technology, and that is that they are experiencing even worst effects.I once said hello to the younger brother of a friend who was 10 years old, he was using his cellphone and he didn’t even look away from the screen when I greeted him. If this is happening to this new generation, i cant even imagine what will happen with the ones to come. We truly have to learn to control the technology in the world, and not let it control us.
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