Pick Up the Phone

Maybe because today is Father’s Day, I’m thinking about ties and connections and how much has been lost over the years in the way we have chosen to communicate with one another.

It’s an odd mix as far as behavior goes, in terms of how we communicate (or don’t), but regardless of whether we are communicating for business or personal – we seem to have lost the “personal” touch.

The memories I have of my Dad and others who are no longer here, are our conversations and just enjoying the dialog between the two of us.  These days, it seems as if people avoid one another – even when they are in the same room together.  There have been a few occasions over the last couple of months where I have been with a small group of friends and there has always been someone in the bunch – who is there in body – but not really –  because they are glued to their “device” and communicating with whomever isn’t there.

Call me “old” but I just don’t get that. I’ll always opt to have a conversation with someone face to face and my second choice is always  to have a conversation with him or her over the phone.  Why?  Because a phone conversation has interaction – in real time.  Emails can be exhausting with the back and forth banter and texting is even worse because of those little keys.  And of course when emails are ignored – there is no interaction – so what’s the point?

With all the options of how to communicate with everyone these days,  including all the social media forums, a personal connection is still the best way as far as I’m concerned.  Sure, you can’t take the time to talk to everyone on any given day, and I don’t.  But there are times, that I do want to connect with someone on an individual level – without blasting it out to the world on Facebook or Twitter and without it being a one sided conversation. And when it comes to business, nothing replaces the one on one face to face or a phone call.  That’s really the only way to emote your message and relay it in the manner it is meant to come across.

Today is Father’s Day.  If you have a Dad who is still in your life – pick up the phone and call him because I know it will make his day.  If my Dad were still alive, I would be making that call.  My only regrets are the times that I put those calls off.  But what I don’t remember is why I did it – the reasons couldn’t have been that important – but stupidly I rationalized they were at the time.