General - Monday, January 12, 2009 7:41 - 4 Comments

Where Did the Time Go?

When was the last time you heard, “I’ll drop some information in the mail to you” or “I’ll stop by the next time I’m on your side of town and we’ll go over that”? Technology has elevated the expectations of a response to a new level.

Facebook, Twitter, Blackberrys… all of these new communications tools have made us more accessible than ever. We should all have more free time, right? The answer, of course is NO! They’ve actually had the opposite effect. These tools let us get much more accomplished in the same amount of time, but they’ve also effectively taken away all of our free time.

I sent an email to a colleague the other day with a question that required a simple yes or no response. After a few minutes I found myself getting steamed that I didn’t get an answer…after all, I know she has a Blackberry.

Just because we can be connected all the time does that mean we should? I seem to remember back in the day before cell phones even existed being able to play a 4-hour round of golf without talking to anyone other than the people in my foursome. Believe it or not, I managed to stay in business.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m new media junkie, but I also believe we all need to unplug every now and then. Otherwise, what’s the point?