By: Jack Saint
Recently a friend showed me a picture of a subway in Boston that he and I used to ride to high school every day. Every single person in the photo had their head downward, focused on their phone. Nobody was having animated conversations or watching for the elderly lady who needed an open seat. Nobody was smiling or saying hello to the person sitting next to them.
Indeed the phone seems to have replaced human interaction. I watched a family at dinner at a restaurant recently and every single person in the family was texting on their phone. Nobody was talking to each other.
I saw a video of a “kiss cam” at a local sporting event where the couple was put on the big screen but the male was so glued to his phone that he didn’t look up even as the woman pulled at his shirt to alert him to their being on the big screen.
Have phones replaced human interaction for good? Is the social media “friend” who we connected with and knew back in grade school more important to us than the real friend sitting across from us? Can’t we speak any more? Is there no such thing as common courtesy and saying hello to someone we run into on the train, at a supermarket, or at a ballgame?
ERP is becoming more and more mobile. And we are making all of the data in an enterprise accessible from anywhere. It is the future. We are there. It is dynamic and revolutionary.
But sometimes I wonder how we can just encourage human interaction again. I think we need to be human, to actually talk to family and friends. And to smile and say hello to strangers on the subway. I just am not sure how to stop the tide. My dad used to say, “The tide waits for no man,” and I think the challenge will not be small for all of us to change it. But I think we need to try.
To learn about how ERP has gone mobile as well, check out VisMobile. If you have questions for us, contact us online or call us at 978-269-6500.