More Connections get you Less Connections.

It has been a long time since you meet up with this friend. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, both of you can only meet up for a meal today. A week ago, you made a reservation with the restaurant that both of you always visit, acknowledging that you are fully vaccinated. You are early and waited outside the restaurant for him to arrive before entering. You saw someone walking towards the restaurant, burying his face down to his mobile phone. It’s him, and you called out to him. He kept his phone and walked towards you. You exchanged some greetings and proceeded into the restaurant towards your table.

You are excited to catch up with this long time buddy and set your phone in silent mode, preventing it from disturbing you. After sitting down on the table, he took out his phone and snapped a Wefie for his IG posting. You try to continue the conversation after the Wefie but realised that he’s constantly checking his phone every minute and clicking away. He’s not even responding to you when you mention that you are facing some challenges at your workplace, and it’s bothering you. He just acknowledged while continuing to be busy typing away on his phone.

Are you guilty of this behaviour or experiencing a similar situation when meeting up with your friend? Well, this is a situation I am experiencing when meeting up with people. Nowadays, people are so engrossed in their virtual world that we focus more than our physical world.

Personally, when I meet someone, I will put my phone to silent and place it in my pocket. When I have a business meeting, I will not answer any calls until the session ends. I want to show the other party that I appreciate their time and have my full attention during the entire session. I focus my attention on my present, my physical world, and my physical connections than online people.

When we have more connections on various social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others, we might miss out on our physical relationships. When we are used to responding to our “pings” on our mobile phone instantly, that becomes a habit, even when meeting someone physically.

While this is our habit, this might not be the habit for the other party. The person we are meeting will notice this behaviour and might find this to be disappointing. It happens to me on few instances when meeting my friends, even when meeting business prospects, and I find that disappointing. I will try to end the session as early as possible since the party is keener on someone virtual. I do not want to be the barrier that comes between them, and someone might need my time much more than them.

As we get more connections virtually, are we giving our physical connections the due attention that they need? Are you emphasising getting more numbers online or spending quality time with the person who commits their time with you?

As we get more connections online, we might end up having lesser physical relationships with people. Appreciate the people who are spending time with you. These are the real connections who are willing to spend their time with you and will likely be there when you need them.