Spark Conversations with Real People? Yes!

I had this crazy idea for 2017. Spark conversation. With real people. In person. Live.
 
I had such a conversation this week with my friend Cat. Cat’s husband is a great guy who serves on a business board with me.
 
What happens at a live conversation where we are not on our phones or sidetracked? Well that is easy. Inspiration. Lots of inspiration. Interesting avenues to drive down. And I came back to my office buzzing with an idea for a client. In other words, you feel alive.
 
That’s because we had what Carl Jung called a transformational occurrence. Here’s the Jung quote: “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
 
In one hour we covered parenting (making kids work for and pay for their stuff means they will actually appreciate it more and take care of it), business blogs, podcasts, cancer, not for profits, music, IT, and Latin. Not bad.
 
The iPhone is 10 years old. My former business partner got each of us one on the first day. I feel like I have had several (mostly because I either break them or leave them on the roof of my car). And of course the iPhone and all the other “smart” devices have changed our lives. Last thing to look at before bed? iPad/iPhone. First thing to look at when I wake up. Same.

 I believe the iPhone launch was a pivotal moment in our lives, mine included of course. All one billion iPhones manufactured to date have changed us. Some of it for good (like oh Google Maps for instance) and some not so good (like our inability to communicate in real life).
 
I heard on CBC today that there is a movement. A radical movement, where people meet with other people to talk. Not joking. People talking to people. There is a rule. No technology turned on. Just talking to another person. What a revolutionary idea.
 
It does seem that in ways we have become advanced. And there is another movement that harkens us back to an earlier day (eating clean, beards, book clubs, playing board games).
 
And here I am using technology to talk about meeting with people in person… What is the world coming to…