I was watching a PBS special the other day on how technology is making us less social and that we are becoming isolated drones who are being destroyed by all these advances around us.
I just want to say — BULLS**T.
How can I fly in the face of all these so-called experts in society? How can I argue with their learned points of view?
Simple. I live this life.
It was during a segment on virtual work environments that this though occurred to me. It was showing how IBM works virtually now with staff spread all over the world. They were demonstrating this avatar-based meeting room where the team was gathered at a virtual desk. They were all on headsets talking to one another about the project.
Big deal. If they had been at CommuniCreations for the last 15 years, they would have seen this all in action. Now, I don’t have a virtual desk out there in the Cyberworld. I don’t need it to make the mental jump to working like this. But like those techno-entranced droids at IBM, I work virtually.
In the last 10 years, I have met less than 10 of the 200 or so clients I’ve worked with. I’ve never met the people I hire as subcontractors. It’s all done on the computer, either through emails, real time chats via Skype or even an infrequent video conference. We can share work via whiteboards and through workrooms that exist only on a server somewhere.
It’s a pretty cool way to work, I must admit. But hardly the cutting edge thing these guys were trying to sell on the show.
I have clients all over the world these days. I recently did a writing project for a high end resort in Phuket, Thailand. My contact was a web designer in Tel Aviv who hired me sight unseen. I did another job where the client was in California, the web design team was in China and I was here in Florida. I am currently working with two big firms in the San Francisco area that would have never known I existed way out here on this tiny barrier island if it weren’t for elance.
And there’s the flaw of the so-called expert’s opinion. They obviously never worked this way. They can only propose that we will become more disconnected and distant, because we have to have face to face time to forge relationships.
That’s simply not true and I am the poster child that proves it! Thanks to the Internet, I have reconnected with friends I once thought were lost to me. My college chum Dave, for instance. I found him on Facebook. I had looked for him for almost 25 years and one day he pops up suddenly as a friends request. How cool is that?
I have also caught up with lots of high school and college people I didn’t know that well, only because of the social hierarchy that exists at that stage in your life. All because of this technology that’s supposed to alienate me.
The funny thing is, it has made me more social than ever. I can get to know people online and when I finally meet them in person, they feel like old friends because we’ve shared things that run much deeper than the surfacey chats you have at a party or in a bar.
And because I work at alone, I love to get out and see real people. They can’t shut me up when we see one another either, because the online repartee has forced me to become better at chit chat. So when I’m in person, I can make small talk, something I never did well before.
I’ve also learned to give “really good phone” as I call it. Since I never meet a client, I have had to come alive on a phone call. This has helped me overcome my shyness because closing a sale and making a living depends on having really good phone skills and being personable.
My son, of course, is on an entirely different level. He’s a gamer. He’ll be on his headset nonstop for hours on end, playing a game with his teammates, may could be in the Netherlands, Germany, Washington State and Brazil. They’re all working together to accomplish tasks to move onto the next level in the game. He interacts with such ease with people of different cultures as they all work together.
And then it dawns on me. These kids are learning teambuilding skills in ways we could never imagine. They cross our imaginary borders to work together, regardless of nationality, race, creed or color. The only thing that matters to them is your skill level.
As stodgy parents, we worry about them becoming isolated and anti-social. But what they’re doing is absolutely amazing. They are voluntarily forming multi-national teams to work on issues. Imagine what they will be like when they grow up – free of fear of others who may not be just like them.
I count myself fortunate because of this one show. I have come to realize that my son and I have more in common than I thought. In our own ways, we are doing the same thing – working with people we have never met on projects that require teamwork, interpersonal skills, diplomacy and problem solving. The only difference is I get paid to do what I do, he just does it for fun.
And now that businesses all over the country are beginning to adopt a “work anywhere” mentality, even IBM, I can think of myself as a bit of a trailblazer. I was doing it while connections were still made via seemingly high tech 5600 baud modems. Now, it is so second nature, it’s like breathing. I could be here at my house or in Costa Rica and as long as there’s an Internet connection, no one would know the difference.
We live in an amazing time. I can only marvel at what is coming down the road next. And I’m sure people like my son and your “anti-social” children will play a big part in its development,
Going virtually everywhere and nowhere at the same time on the Treasure Coast of Florida,
— Robb