By Mark Vickers, Ph.D.

I doubt David Wells could have imagined what assaults awaited individuals a generation later. We are, for better or worse, a culture “plugged in” with access to information, entertainment, and people with a mere touch of a button. In fact, as I write this, I can see my two youngest girls playing games on their smart phones (I wonder at times if they know its main purpose is to make a “phone call”). They are growing up in a world of instant information and gratification.

The past, what my daughters call “the olden days,” is now the 1990’s. It was a time where conversation took place over a burger and fries, where we were forced to think about the meaning behind someone’s words because we could hear their tone and see their facial expressions. We were smarter about what we said then, mostly because we hadn’t been desensitized by modern social expectations. We still spent time with our thoughts, and didn’t need the distraction of email, cell phones, and of course, Facebook.

So why do I bring this up? Well, mostly because when I blog on this site, I want to help others understand the importance of good communication. That, in fact, is the purpose of WorkTraits. But we all lose sight of how we come across to others, and our communication has subtly been sabotaged by the requirements of social media. So in my next post I will discuss how we can reclaim our communication and “private consciousness” in an internet world–stay tuned…