Face to face.

Remember back in the good ol' days where most communication took place face to face?  Trust me when I tell you, I am not one that would ever bash on technology (while you are reading the words I am typing from Black Forest while working on another computer) BUT...there was a time when you had to say something to someone's face and bottom line you just simply knew better.  I met one of my brother's friends this weekend for the first time at his BBQ - no matter what that man would have said, I would not have just called him a moron.  Even if he was one.  I was reading a recent news story about a woman who got a pedicure and a bonus infection that caused major surgery.  I read the article...took it into advisement...and honestly looked at my toes and thought to myself OMG do I need a pedicure.  However when I read the comments on the article written by Trolls (as we call them in the industry) I was amazed to hear how many people said no kind words, not even Wow that stinks.  But instead they were all circulated around well that's what you get for going to a cheap place...did you watch them clean out the basin before you stuck your feet in? -no, well then it's your fault.  Hmmmm.  Interesting.  I like to sum up this watched encounter by using the comedian Louis CK as a reference.  Below is a video of him on Conan O'Brian that I think sums up what's different between face to face and through the digital world.  If you don't have time to watch it...this is my favorite set of lines talking about why his kids aren't allowed to have smart phones.

I think these things are toxic, especially for kids...they don't look at people when they talk to them and they don't build empathy. You know, kids are mean, and it's 'cause they're trying it out. They look at a kid and they go, 'you're fat,' and then they see the kid's face scrunch up and they go, 'oh, that doesn't feel good to make a person do that.' But they got to start with doing the mean thing. But when they write 'you're fat,' then they just go, 'mmm, that was fun, I like that.'  

The whole video is here - Louis CK on Conan O'Brian