That’s not to say that advances in technology always dull the way we communicate. Videochatting¹ and photo sharing sometimes provide a feeling that is better than what we experience in person. Those examples seem to be exceptions to the rule, though.

Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana drummer and current frontman of Foo Fighters, recently (and likely inadvertantly) touched on a similar topic in the follow up to his Grammy acceptance speech. He discusses what it’s like to be a real musician, one who’s voice and instrument are untouched by auto-tune and the like. He writes:

“The ‘human element’. That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became ‘bad’ things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily ‘fixed’. The end result? [In] my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.”

Grohl isn’t talking about communicating, but he might as well be.² There are some things that get lost in a text message. No amount of exclamation points can properly capture the excitement in someone’s voice when they call their parents to tell them they are getting married. No caps lock can shout loud enough or show the redness of someone’s face when they are angry. As much as we may hate conflict, getting yelled at face-to-face is more effective for both parties than getting berated with a testy email.

During the spring of my freshman year of college, I received notification from the University of Illinois that my transfer application had been accepted. I immediately called my dad and told him the news. He disagreed with my decision to transfer schools, but he could hear how excited I was and how happy I seemed, for the first time in a long time. He could tell that it was something I needed to do just by hearing the sound of my voice. That’s not something that ones and zeroes will be able to mimic anytime soon. If nothing else, this serves as a reminder to myself that from time to time technology is best left in my pocket. It’s important every now and then to put down the phone, walk away from the computer and look a person straight in the face.

1. At the time of this writing, every single person on Apple’s Facetime page is smiling. That is not by accident.
2. The irony of his post being written on Facebook is not lost on me.

Most people let other forces determine how they live. This project, commissioned by STA Travel Australia, is inspiration to live life on your own terms.

Via @smayer87

“The first is the cyclical one, the one that inevitably comes and then inevitably goes. There’s plenty of evidence that intervention can shorten it, and also indications that overdoing a response to it is a waste or even harmful.

The other recession, though, the one with the loss of ‘good factory jobs’ and systemic unemployment–I fear that this recession is here forever.”

As recently as thirty years ago a person could get by knowing one very specific skill, the “factory job” that Godin refers to. As long as they showed up everyday and performed their task, they would get paid and live a relatively normal life. There are still a number of jobs and industries that operate this way, but that is changing rapidly. The ones that do remain are probably living on other continents.

So how, then, do you succeed in the twenty first century? That’s a question I ask myself every single day. There is no simple answer. Kyle Baxter, another favorite writer of mine, wrote a thoughtful response to Godin’s piece, one worth reading as well. He writes:

“The only thing holding us back now is ourselves. We are all artists, designers, manufacturers, managers, musicians, writers, creators—if we choose to be. And that is the fundamental difficulty of this new age: we all are responsible for our own success.”

While that may sound like “a bunch of hippy shit,” I think there’s a lot of truth to that statement. Never before has the world required people to have as many skills and to juggle as many hats as right now.

The most glaring skill that comes to mind is that of the internet. Older generations like to declare that the Facebooks and Twitters of the world are ruining the way we interact. I couldn’t disagree further. They, in fact, are priming people to be publishers and in a broader sense, creators. Even on the smallest of levels – sending a one hundred forty character tweet – this is massively important. They represent a shift in power of information. Sure, there have been missteps along the way. These missteps, though, shouldn’t discount the potential. Instead of the mass media controlling the messages we see, hear and read, the power lies with the people. Individuals can now influence millions of people at a cost of exactly zero dollars. The winners of future generations will be the ones who figure out how they can affect others by using the skills and the tools that are presenting themselves right now.

I could be wrong of course. Maybe the future lies in something we don’t yet know about, something that won’t come about for a while. I’d be willing to bet, though, that what’s happening right now will influence the way we live well into the future. The tools are here, now. I certainly haven’t figured out the best way to use them, but I’m trying.

I never made the decision to actively improve my understanding of computers. All I knew was that I really had a good time trying to figure those things out. And I did. It has turned out to be an essential skill. I keep myself organized, informed and entertained through my use of computers and the like. But until recently, I was never proud of the fact that I knew this stuff. The problem with computers is that, when you are a teenage boy who is trying to impress girls, they give off a less than desirable impression. Inside, I’m a glasses wearing, socially awkward computer geek who could talk for hours about how the public’s use of Internet Explorer is hindering web development due to Microsoft’s unwillingness to adopt modern web standards.

Shockingly, girls don’t really like to hear about that. Maybe because of this, I never felt those skills had any value. Computers were just something I did. That’s one of the unfortunate byproducts of being a teenager. In order to fit in, you have to fit in. All individuality and uniqueness is pushed out as to not appear “weird”. What a terrible word. I wouldn’t wish that label on any kid. I was lucky enough to make it through middle school and high school unscathed, but not everybody does.

As a twenty-three year old adult, I realize how much of a shame that mentality is. The people I find most interesting now are those who are unique and have deep interests in things I’m not well-versed in. Take my friend Jake, for example. Jake is Jewish, a topic I know next to nothing about. Ever since the day I met him, though, I’ve asked questions and he has patiently answered and explained. I am now a more well-rounded and understanding person for knowing Jake and having him pass along that information to me.

That’s one of my most important take aways from college. I don’t mean it in the way that my first grade teacher meant it when she read us The Rainbow Fish or the countless ways in which we “celebrated diversity.” How, as a seven year old, anyone could be expected to understand that is beyond me. What I do mean, though, is that being unique and having interests is cool. One of my favorite quotes is by Butch Walker, the musician and record producer. He writes:

“I can smell it on people a mile away if they were brought up as carbon copies of their own peers. The shirts, the lingo, the philosophy, the record collection, etc… just take chances because you will never regret that.”

I wish I had taken that to heart a little bit earlier in life. Now I know that “being different” isn’t some meaningless piece of advice written in a children’s book or tacked up to a wall in school. It’s actually a really great way to do things. Sometimes you’ll find things you really love. You’ll find people you really love, too. Either way, you’ll be better off for it.