One of the wonderful things about technology, it allows us to keep in touch with whomever whenever we want. The down side of that technology, it often can separate us and make it harder to connect the old fashioned way.
What old fashioned way are we talking about?
The good old fashion face to face chat…
The good old fashioned phone call…
The good old fashion caring about someone offline.
This skill is still alive as we see many collaborate more and more at work… however… is this translating out well into the family?
Staying Connected
The way families used to connect, they had a time where everyone got together and talked. Sure, it was not always a formal talk, but it was a productive talk nevertheless. Today, the picture has changed quite a bit.
The push to use the mobile device has pushed companies to adopt the unlimited data family plans so that everyone can digitally connect all they want. Looking at a family in a restaurant eating their meal while glued to their phones talking/texting to everyone else not at the table… is not the ideal way to bond as a family.
There comes a time to disconnect digitally
For families to bond together, they need to have moments where members can just invest in getting to know one another.
Many families have now set times aside to unplug. Time where they can only be present and mindful together as one family. These times are way more precious than they get credit for.
The digital connection just adds value to the existing connection. It is not a substitute.
Why must we stay connected?
Society is build on connections. These connections feed trust and the sharing of ideas for progress to take place. When people do no trust each other and can’t connect together, feelings of loneliness start to rise more than they otherwise would. People start to get lost in their own thoughts and can easily slip down rabbit holes of despair, doubt, anxiety, and low self esteem.
Being by yourself is not the problem. Being by yourself is not the direct drive towards the rabbit hole. However, being alone and not having any support makes it all too easy to fall down the rabbit holes that life tempts you with.
The enemy of great, one author has said, is good. You can be good by yourself. But to be great, you need the connections of others to plow up ahead.
So, what’s the connection to family?
Not all families are equal or operate the same. There are those families that are just parent and child(ren). There are those that are two parents and child(ren). Others are composites of different individuals connected different ways to blend into a family.
By the way, the blog is not ignoring the bigger types of family structures where most members do not share any DNA connection, yet they are tightly knit as if they were all blood connected.
Whatever tribe/family you belong to, they have an influence on you as well as you have an influence on them. The both of you need each other to function and operate well as one unit.
Communication is the critical element that keeps all families working. Without good productive and effective communication, all families will eventually run into problems. That is why having time together to fine tune the style of communication is so important.
Each family will have their style and all styles can be improved. Without adequate use, communication stales.
Let’s compare a family to a race team… in terms of communication style. Each team member practices their craft to make it as great as possible. The team practices together to fine tune who in sync they can be.
In order to get everyone in sync, they have to all communicate together. Every part of the team is critical. The more they work together as a team, the better their performances. The more they improve their way of communicating, the better they’re able to each perform… raising the performance of the whole team.
That’s the whole point. Each family needs to create a safe place for everyone to be able to exchange ideas freely with each other so everyone can learn from each other… support one another… thrive together… enjoy one another.
