Technology in the flesh

By Chris Trout | March 23, 2009

Bells and whistles. Clicks and clutter. Video, audio, podcasts, vblogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook… The list of personal extensions into cyberspece seems nearly endless. When you are someone like me, who is all about the flesh and blood connection between human beings, it's worth asking: Is this the new frontier or just a big distraction?

Well, I have been asking and the answer is clear. Yes. Like television back in the 60s and computers in the 90s, it is absolutely changing the conversation - and the way we have it - whether we participate or not. And like both of these culture-changing technologies, people are using it to get what they want most: flesh and blood connections between human beings.

Of course, the big distraction comes in the plethora of choices. But even that has become easier with a single question: Which technologies foster that human connection? Which bells and whistles serve us without us serving them?

So I'm in. I'm ready to play. I'll be there on YouTube and Facebook, vblogs and webinars. And my singular goal will be to make the connection, to have fun, to engage in that wonderfully rich and dynamic conversation about discovering and living from our best selves - and helping our kids discover it sooner than we did.

Oh, and there is this one side benefit that cannot be overlooked. What used to be prohibitively expensive can become accessible, even easy.

So, a thriving community of strengths-focused people gaining more tools for less money and, all the while, expanding the network of flesh and blood human beings reaching out to each other?

I'm in.

(Here's my foray into video, this one from the Strengths in Focus home page.)