Being Socially Challenged

In this day and age we are so consumed with technology that it basically controls our lives. With all the new technology that has been introduced throughout the years, it really has affected my generation the most. This isn't a shock to me, but has been brought to my attention after listening to Jessica Gendron Williams, author of I Heart Recruitment & an alumnae of my sorority's chapter, speak to my sorority this weekend. She said that my generation and other generations that are closely around mine have become "socially challenged" due to having all this technology introduced to us at such a young age. The whole purpose of her mentioning this had to relate to recruitment and how recruitment relies on being able to communicate and create connections on a personal level.  Jessica obviously went into more detail about it relating to recruitment, but the idea of being "socially challenged" because of technology really got me to think about how it affects my life.

My generation does lack good social skills because instead of being able to strongly communication with someone face to face, we much rather do it via cell phone, email, social networking, etc. It almost sad to admit to this. Now I'm not saying that all this new technology is a bad thing, but it has put a dent into many lives when it comes to talking to people. If you just look around at groups of people or a pair of friends you tend to notice that yes they may be conversing to one another, but there is some sort of distraction within that conversation whether it be a phone, Facebook, or an iPod. I'll never understand why people listen to their iPods while they are say at lunch with one another and are all sitting at the same table jamming out, but not really talking. I've seen this first hand before and it just blows my mind. Also, some people use texting messaging as their way to tell important information to others when really it should be said in person. For example, I've seen and heard too many people break up with their girlfriends or boyfriends through text messages because they can't do it in person. That's just pathetic.

Now I know I'm guilty to using my cellphone or being on the Internet more than I should, but I would never use technology to determine or communicate how I get serious or important information to someone. However, getting back to being "socially challenged" I do understand why people may think that my generation is because even I admit that sometimes I use technology more than I should. I wouldn't say I'm horrible with my social skills, but at times I may find myself talking to someone and there is that awkward silence and you don't know what to say next. I feel like there is always room to better my social skills and try to break out of being socially challenged, but I don't think I could ever have as good as social skills as say someone of my grandparent's generation. They didn't have all this technology when they were my age. Even now that they may be older and technology forces itself upon them more and more, they don't rely on it or get mixed up in it like my generation does. Sometimes I wish that even I could be less dependent on technology, but that is how I was raised and I'm so use to having it in my life that it's hard to say no to it. I guess just the idea of being "socially challenged" isn't a huge deal, but when you do really think about it having a lack of social skills can really affect the way you communicate with others.