I moved house recently. That’s one of the things that appears on those ‘life’s stressful events’ lists and you laugh at - couldn’t possibly be so traumatic.
It was.
Anyway, before and after the ‘ordeal’ I got a few emails along the lines of ‘hope the move went well’.
My ‘bests’ called to send their good wishes. Mum and Dad were on hand on the day. Real support.
Two days after we moved in there were two ‘congratulations on your new home’ cards in my letterbox.
Two people I know went to the trouble to think to send a card, find out the address, buy a card and write on it, stamp it and mail it.
I was touched. And shocked.
The emails and phone calls seemed insignificant. Impersonal and too easy compared to the sincerity of a card.
Without channelling that Hallmark commercial where the neighbour sends the old lady a card, it made me wonder, does technology take the gloss off keeping in touch?
I am developing a point system.
The cards were nice but nothing compared to real help on the day. Let’s make that worth five points. Sending a card four points. Calling three points. Emailing two points. Texting one point.
These are weighted based on the effort required to do them. My parents would argue their help should get 100 points and they’d be right!
So in your day to day communication with the people you care about, how many text messages does it take to equal a phone call?
My system suggests three and that sounds reasonable. But would the person receiving them swap three texts for a call? Maybe not. But given the relative time and effort between calling and texting, maybe they would be many more than three times more likely to get a text than a call. They have to take what they can get.
And that’s really it. If on one hand modern technology depersonalises the communication we have with our nearest and dearest, on the other its ease and accessibility keeps it alive.
Certainly hitting reply keeps the talk going more readily than finding a minute to return a phone call.
Which reminds me, I really must call and say thank you for the cards.
“ If on one hand modern technology depersonalises the communication we have with our nearest and dearest, on the other its ease and accessibility keeps it alive. ”
Karen Morath of M Power consults, trains, speaks and coaches in public relations, personal effectiveness, life balance and all things empowering.