The Art of People Business – Our Relationships with Technology

Technology is one of those broad and widely-complex topics that can bring thoughts, feelings, and/or actions of love and hate (or like and dislike if you’re looking for a softer way to say love and hate), reliance and distrust, neediness and avoidance, convenience and hindrance, acceptance and disregard, and privacy and intrusiveness.

And, I know for a fact, that there’s no way to address the importance and prevalence of technology in today’s society in a matter of a blog post or two or even a half a dozen. But, I’m going to do my best to shed some light on how technology is interwoven throughout every possible facet of our lives . . .  whether we want it to be or not.

There are so many directions that I could take a discussion on technology and how it affects us each day, but I’ve decided to take the next several The Art of People Business installments and devote them to our relationships with technology in:

How We Work

How We Learn, and

How We Communicate

I would say that these three focuses are heavy-hitters in terms of technology options and use. So, I’m going to make an attempt to explore how each focus plays a vital role in how we function individually and how we interact with others. Next week, we’ll look at technology in the workplace, followed by technology for educational purposes (the week after), and technology used in formal and informal communications (the week after that).

I must stop to say that I’m definitely one of those individuals who has a love/hate relationship with technology. I’ve seen how it can be used for the most honorable and well-meaning of intentions; but I’ve also witnessed how it can be used for pure evil. So, the mindset I’m working to develop when dealing with such a powerful subject (technology, in this case) is to be deliberately good-natured in how I use it, to use it when I need to use it, to be cautious of its potential for harm, and to handle it with care.

Now, I’m not going to act like I don’t seek technology for entertainment purposes. When I stated that part of my mindset on technology involves me partaking of it only as needed, that includes using it for entertainment purposes as well. And, it’s okay to be regularly entertained. I don’t know anyone on this earth who is all work/no play all of the time. So, tech for entertainment purposes has its appropriate place and time.

And in my opinion, technology can be very instrumental in helping us, human beings, develop and maintain a healthy mental and physical balance in our lives. To give you a little more insight into how I personally have perceived technology in the work I do, I’ve decided to reference some content I stated in my debut book, self-published back in September of last year.

The following excerpt, from Playground Instruction for the Growing Adult, provides a little precursor for next week’s The Art of People Business article, where I’ll be discussing how technology affects the way we work. This discourse follows the question I posed, which states my confession to being technologically-challenged. Here’s the question: “How could I possibly run a business that is heavily driven by an online presence?”

And here’s the honest response I provided in my book:

“My children tease me occasionally about my unwelcomed ability to break technology/electronics in my home. This is not entirely true, though. I can’t help it if devices mysteriously break (or stop working) at the touch of my hand. These occurrences are what I call untimely coincidences, not me initiating the demise of all things technology. What I will admit to is the fact that some technology makes me uncomfortable. I’ve never been one to tinker with things, wonder how their inner workings function, or be mechanically-inclined in any sense of the term. And while I can navigate my way around a computer just fine, I’m far from being fluent in tech talk and in the working knowledge of all the many programs that one needs to successfully run an online business. I’m having to learn my blogging and YouTube platforms, video editing software, social media platforms, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing programs, graphic design technology, search engine optimization techniques, e-book and paperback publishing systems, and so much more. What have I done to overcome technological limitations? Well, I perform what’s within my level of expertise to do and I simply research to find answers for what I don’t know. And when I need a tech whiz to come to the rescue, I seek assistance from family, friends, peers, mentors, and professionals who have the technological know-how for the task at hand.“

And there you have it. Me and technology don’t always jive when it comes to carrying out the work that I do. I wouldn’t say that I have an aversion to technology for work, because I, undoubtedly, recognize how handy it is when you know how to use it properly and how it can create some efficiencies that will save time, money, and wear and tear on the old body. So, I’m not knocking technology. I’ll let it get in where it can fit in within my business, but I also don’t go chasing after the latest tech hot off the press either.

Let’s just say that the tech world is not what makes my reality go round and round. I use the technology that’ll get the job done with the least amount of fuss on my part. Ease of use and functionality — that’s what I want from tech in my work setting. You can nix the bells and whistles and off-the-chart entertainment value. It’s not necessary in the work that I do, here at Degrees of Maternity. And, I don’t feel like I’m the sole owner of this type of mindset, either. I know, for a fact, that there are others who share my way of thinking about technology for work.

While it may be all work and no play when it comes to tech for my professional needs, I recognize there are many people who relish in the latest gadgets, software, and systems that radiate productivity, convenience, automation, and quick results. These are the folks that live to work technology, and more power to them. Use the resources that best help you get the work done. That’s my two cents on the matter.

NEXT WEEK ⇒ I’ll go in in depth about tech’s overwhelming influence in how people work and I’ll touch on the pros and cons to how it affects us, generally-speaking. So, make sure and come back next week as I start to unpack some of the complexities, regarding the relationship we have with technology.