How to make a real human connection in our digital world
In an increasingly digital world, how can we make a real human connection? A local tech guru says it’s a lot simpler than you think!
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — With the help of technology, we live in a world that has never been more connected, but a lot of people have never felt more disconnected from one another.
From the so-called “Zoom Fatigue” to “Doom Scrolling”, how do we get back to real human connection that we all seem to be yearning for?
“I miss hugs, I miss physical touch… However social media isn’t going away and I would argue that you have been craving that human connection before this pandemic began,” said Giselle Ugarte, CEO of Action Forward and a digital marketing consultant.
Giselle says this isn’t necessarily a digital dilemma, but rather a chance to examine how we incorporate healthy media habits when we are creating and consuming content online.
“People are sick of the fake consumption of social media,” Giselle said. “That is why we are getting exhausted of technology because we are sick of things that aren’t real.”
Giselle says in this so-called “digital world” we’re only showing up as a fraction of ourselves and we tend to filter what we show about ourselves to the world. If you’re using a filter to hide your pile of laundry in the background during your Zoom meeting while finding that perfectly lit spot in your house, NEWSFLASH! Giselle says our so-called “imperfections” are what make our digital human connections more real.
“You’re only posting the highlight reel or you’re posting because you want to show off, you’re posting because you want to keep up with the Jones’ when in actuality if we treated it like an actual human interaction, if we treated each social media platform like its own social group or its social event, we could learn a lot more about each other, and what we will learn is that we are a lot more alike than we may think,” said Giselle.
We can cohabitate, no need to ditch the tech. Giselle says what a lot of us can work on is balance. Don’t let social media take control of you, you should be in control of it.
