Being less alone together

Above, seen on a table at the back of a conference room during a staff all-day negotiation, team-building, and communication workshop.  It is a great enforcement mechanism to enhance interactions and the learning process, imposed by the conference organizer. I think Sherry Turkle would be pleased.

She has said:

What I've foundis that our little devices,those little devices in our pockets,are so psychologically powerfulthat they don't only change what we do,they change who we are.Some of the things we do now with our devicesare things that, only a few years ago,we would have found oddor disturbing,but they've quickly come to seem familiar,just how we do things.

So just to take some quick examples:People text or do emailduring corporate board meetings.They text and shop and go on Facebookduring classes, during presentations,actually during all meetings.People talk to me about the important new skillof making eye contactwhile you're texting.

Why does this matter?It matters to mebecause I think we're setting ourselves up for trouble --trouble certainlyin how we relate to each other,but also troublein how we relate to ourselvesand our capacity for self-reflection. 

So you want to go to that board meeting,but you only want to pay attentionto the bits that interest you.