The cartoon reminds me of a situation when my husband owned his own business.  He was dressed in his grubbies, painting the lettering on his front door, when a salesman arrogantly pushed him aside and asked to speak to the owner.  Needless to say, he didn’t sell anything that day.

The cartoon also speaks of how we miss opportunities because it’s too much work.  We like the easy way of doing things and now with so many new avenues in communication, we don’t have to work as hard anymore.  We can ignore emails, texts, even personal phone calls.  If we don’t feel like confrontation, we avoid it like the plague and it doesn’t matter, because everyone else is doing it too.

I had the honor of teaching public speaking skills to children from 5-8 grade in my career.  As time progressed, I could see a lack of confidence in this area, because it was no longer necessary.  Unfortunately, so many problems could be solved in this world if there was more face to face discussion.  It’s really a lost art and it is laborious.  Why is it that progress often gets in the way of the most logical way of handling things? When there’s a way of making things easier, we often opt for that way.

I have  friends who can’t seem to get over this past election.  They use social media to express themselves, over and over again, regarding it.  I wonder if they would be so vocal if they had to actually say the words in front of others.  We have come to rely on electronic communication to voice our opinions, without thinking how others might respond.  When you can’t see a face reacting to your words, you’re doing nothing more than spitting out opinions.

Maybe all this “knowledge” we’ve gained through technology should be put to the test.  Instead of using a phone, the internet or any forms of social media, we should make it a point to talk face to face with someone this week.  I think we’d be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.