Alone

On this day when the greeting card, florists and confectionery companies (and society in general) tell us we should be together and happy – many of us are probably alone. However, when my friends tell me they are lonely – I usually tell them to go outside – there are six billion people out there. However, the video (above) showed me that I’m wrong – we don’t need to go outside because we are never alone.

Even though I live more than 3000 km from where I did three months ago; I still phone, text, email, skype, facebook, blog, twitter, yelp, IM or [insert your technology of choice] with my friends from my former hometown more than daily. It’s like I never left.

When I’m skiing, (I do this almost daily) I meet and speak to someone new on an hourly basis. They are a captive audience for about 10 to 20 minutes when we ride the gondola, chairlift or t-bar. People in ski resorts are generally very happy and glad to be there (regardless of the weather) and most are glad to talk. Sometimes I’m their captive audience. Occasionally, we end up skiing a run or two and even end up at the pub for après.

Personal interaction is so much better than any technology could try to emulate. I’m not sure what these technologies are achieving; but it make me yearn to be alone.

Instead of going outside to avoid being loney – maybe we need to go outside to be together.