Building Relationships In The Digital World

The world is changing and technological advances coupled with our hectic schedules take away from the time we spend with people. In fact as we grow older the avenues through which one can meet new people tend to reduce drastically and most of us end up being stuck with taking care of the chores we need to do and the work we have to take care of leaving little time for much else.

The Paradox of Technology

On the one hand it is said that the world is shrinking because of the technological advances as it helps you to stay connected with a lot of those who may have moved away to different corners of the world. But what that also does is that it increases your virtual presence and allows for sporadic connectedness with people in different parts of the world but takes away from the real life interactions we need to have.

The technology also keeps us constantly connected to the things we need to do and most people who have hectic work lives end up being more entangled with a lot from work even once away from the workplace. This further takes away from the social interactions one can potentially have and makes building relationships difficult.

The Need for Relationships

At the end of the day I always take recourse to the first statement we would all read in our science textbooks growing up – Man is a social animal. We need relationships and we want to feel connected. We desire the presence of others around us and we seek stimulation through various interactions we can potentially have with individuals who match our intellectual abilities and share common platforms to exchange thoughts about.

Relationships are what we look towards in our times of trouble. It is the support that we can generate from people around us that can help us in moving forward in our lives by coping with a lot of the significant problems that can surround us at various junctures. Even if solutions are not found the knowledge that there are people one can rely on, who would be supportive in dealing with the flux of emotions in itself is rather helpful.

Building Significant Relationships

I believe that if we need relationships then we need to be proactive in trying to have them be a part of life and we need to nourish them. There are some things which can be done by all of us to facilitate this process.

• Be cognizant of those around you. Perhaps the most important thing is that you need to be aware of the people around you. Often we cease to take notice of the people around us and stop doing anything to help our relation with them.

• Acknowledge the value that people have in your life. It is important that you acknowledge and demonstrate the value you perceive in your relationship with those around you. This always help them to feel that you want them around you and that would enable them to also make efforts to stay connected and reciprocate.

• Invest in trying to build your relationship. Relationships require an investment and that is not in kind but in quality. It is important for you to focus on the quality of the relationships you have with people and find ways in which you can enhance the same. Whether it is by being connected, finding time to do things together or any other method which could be helpful, being aware of these is important.

• Find ways to stay connected. Staying connected is not that tough anymore. From the days when there were no means of communicating we are thronged with methods through which we can stay connected. But what is required most importantly is to utilize these means.

• Spend time with those you consider important. To provide nurturance to a relationship you need to spend time with the people. This would require you to indulge in activities that are pleasurable to them and both of you together as well.

• Take an interest in things people you want to be with and care about would like to engage in. We frequently forget about others around us may like or want and end up focusing on our own selves. Push yourself beyond these narrow conceptualizations and find ways to do the things others around you like to do as well.

• Be patient. Most of us struggle with having patience in this fast paced world and up being snappy and irritable. It is important that if you want to nurture your relationships you need to be more patient and tolerant of others.

• Search for more avenues to connect with people. One needs to be proactive in trying to find more people to connect with and these days and in order to do so one needs to be innovative. So use those groups which are flourishing across social media and find an avenue to connect with more people.