The term, social distancing, is something you hear quite often these days. What ever your thoughts or opinions of this may be, there is simply no denying the impact that these two words have on our lives. Some would even say that these two words are oxymorons; and you would have a hard time disputting this. Social and people go hand in hand. Advancements in technology and practically every innovation in the history of the world can be broken down to one contributing factor, social. This idea that people need to distance themselves to find a solution to a problem is a very difficult and complex idea to grasp.
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” ~ Andrew Carnegie
From sending people to the moon, and soon mars, to curing diseases, and even building marvels like the Burj Khalifa, no one person could accomplish this feat. In just the same way fire would bring people together to warm themselves from the cold and commune, technology does this same thing; but does it do it the same way?
Technology creates time. Before phones, people used pigeons. Before internet, people used radio and phones, etc. etc. Technology does not always solve different problems, most of the time it solves the same problem faster. Speed does not always directly relate to how fast something is, speed also refers to access. If more people know something at the same time, speed is secondary to scale. The difference between speed and scale is allocation of time. If you tell someone something and tell somebody, and so forth, how fast news travels between people is different then how fast the source of the news travels to the last person who hears it.
“Technology does not always solve different problems, most of the time it solves the same problem faster.”
So bringing this back to some interesting take aways.
5 Questions to Assess Social Distancing Impact
- Is social distancing the same as distancing from social (media)? How do the effect you differently or the same?
- Does having access to technology decrease the impact of social distancing effects?
- Are we as a society evolving to be less social or more because of technology?
- Is the perception of social interaction enough to move us forward in a positive and evolving way?
- Do you think we will revert to more human interaction or less , because of technology in the next 10 years?
The effects of 2020 will not be truly seen or understood for some time but, the vast amount of businesses and individuals that have adapted and evolved in such a short time to accept technology as a way forward has proven to be something within our reach. Over 75 million daily users of Microsoft Teams, increase of 900% of remote inspections and audits globally, and the over 600% of cyber attacks, this adaption has created new challenges.
“Over correcting is just a nice way of saying you are wrong.”
There is a sense of grounding that is needed in everything we do and a balance that must be maintained. Social distancing may be a reaction to COVID-19 but what is the next reaction from social distancing? Over correcting is just a nice way of saying you are wrong.
Let’s use this time to rethink our goals, purpose and what we want out of life and then move forward. Maybe social distancing is way to cleanse us of people or things in our lives that are holding us back, maybe it is a way to restructure our business to innovate and rethink value. Either way, social distancing is only a step in our journey, not the final destination.
