In this new age of social networks and online contacts I'm finding more and more that I have a virtual personality and a real world personality - And the onset of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is basically setting in. Are you more available as an online entity than your real world counter-part? Do you tell the person interrupting you at your office to wait until you finish this email, that you've been composing, rather than talking to him/her first? As the world becomes smaller, where global teams become common place, sometimes I mistake my virtual life with my real life. Recently the Pope addressed social networks as a great blessing but warns us of impersonalization. I'm not religious however it doesn't lesser the impact of his statement. As I grow more and more accustom to social media as being the norm the less and less the statement "know thy neighbor" is true. As a software developer you grow accustom to communicating to your computer, maybe you're able to communicate with your computer better than you do with people. Sitting behind a desk hammering out the latest and greatest new app does that to someone. But like many things you have to fight that urge. The road of familiarity, somewhat easier, is probably not going to get you to where you want to go. As the new year resolutions have passed (yes I know about how trustworthy and concrete a new's years resolution can be) I feel that 'know thy neighbor' is a great start to a resoution.
When's the last time you picked up a phone? maybe you should,... and call someone?
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