Sometimes, I hate technology. I want to take my phone and my computer and I want to throw them in the ocean with a rock attached to them so that I never see them again.
After the initial panic, withdrawal and night sweats, I am sure that overall I would lead a much more peaceful life. I know that it is never going to happen, especially in the career field that I have chosen, but a girl can dream, can’t she??
I find myself often not liking what technology has done to us. It has made us lose our humanity.
It is too easy to be someone you are not. It makes everything an emergency and urgent. It makes it too easy to hide behind a screen instead of actually talking to someone…where they could actually hear your inflection, tone, voice, face, and see your body language.
Technology, like texting and sending emails, makes it hard for the other person to actually figure out what you are trying to say because it makes it the responsibility of the reader to interpret your words. AND…to even more complicate things, the interpretation depends upon what the reader is feeling that day. Make sense? It sure is easy to take something the wrong way to begin with…but it is 10000000 times easier to do that when you can’t hear or see the person you are talking to.
Most people would rather text than talk. Isn’t that crazy to think about?
In a world of online dating, oh hell, I can go on about this. Catfishing has become a “thing” now where society actually had to make up a term for this phenomenon because it was happening so much. I have never had it happen to me, but I know many who have. It is scary. People too afraid to be themselves, so they make up this whole online persona of someone they want to be and lure others into a relationship or try to scam them. Scary.
Social media, like Facebook and Instagram show images that all of us want you to see of the perfect, active life and fabulous relationships we are in. Most of which is BS and not real life….but technology and hiding behind it makes it all possible to seem like all is good in the hood. All while the human part of us is hurting inside. We crave real friendships more than ever, but have 5000 fake friends online who don’t even know the real us. I wouldn’t recognize most of my FB friends if I saw them on the street. #truth
When I go to a restaurant sometimes, I see couples…families…friends…all other phones instead of talking with each other.
Now, I am not saying that technology is horrible, I just think that it has enabled us to lose one of the most important aspects of our humanity…and that is actual human interaction. In a world filled with so many things that are supposed to makes our lives easier, I feel like we are more frantic than ever.
I keep hearing that the days of the loan officer are going to be going away because of the technology that places like Quicken and other online lenders have invented. I used to be scared of that, but then I have realized that what my clients want is someone that they trust. Someone they can come talk to. Someone they can look in the eye and do business with in PERSON when they are going through one of the most important and largest financial transactions of their life. There have been numerous studies that show that people value the “personal touch” on these processes much more than the technology that allows their loan officer to hide behind a computer.
So, what do we do?
In business, we need to at least pick up the phone instead of emailing things all of the time. People will appreciate that. It is too easy to send an email and fire back. Some things need to be communicated over the phone. People will appreciate that. Makes us more human.
One thing that we also do now on my team is that we encourage people to come on in and meet us so that we can go over the loan in person. This has become an invaluable tool! My clients love it. They know who we are and what we are really like and at the same time, we get the pleasure of getting to know them too on a personal level. It is wonderful to build these relationships.
My peers think I am crazy that I meet so many people in person…that I personally take so many loan applications over the phone. I think they are the crazy ones NOT to. I have $148 million reasons why my way is better. People get to know me. They see my pictures on my walls. They get to meet the team. It is personal. They realize that we care about them and that we are on their side and here to help. They understand that we are responsible and accountable for the biggest transaction of their lives.
When you are with your friends and family, actually be with them. Put down the damn phone at the table…when you get home from work. Be present. Call someone vs. texting them all of the time….or better yet, see them in person! Say what?
The other thing that I have done, although not often enough, is to have “technology free” days. Now those are glorious days!! Try it. Pick one weekend day and don’t take your phone with you anywhere. Its scary as shit in the beginning, but then you will realize that you actually have to talk to people! You are gonna love it!
I encourage everyone to take a step back and be human again, dang it!
Click above to see my SA Living Monday Motivation video and hear it directly from me.
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