Hear the Conversation 8:06 – 3.9 mb mp3

From the 2012 CASE Summit in Washington DC, MSUAA Executive Director Scott Westerman and Charlie Melichar, Associate Vice Chancellor, Communications Office, Vanderbilt University, react to author Sherry Turkle’s assertions that technology may hinder rather than foster strong personal relationships.

Melichar posits that social media can be a great connector, but focus is the key. When you’re in the face to face mode, undivided attention is a gift of love. Whatever we engage in deserves our full attention.

Turkle loves sending an email response that says simply, “I’m thinking”, to calibrate expectations that speed-of-response isn’t necessarily the objective. At the end of the day,

Westerman notes that you have to speak the language. If people aren’t paying attention, it’s not their fault, it’s ours. Technology, he concludes, can be an accelerator for the ultimate objective: a face to face encounter.