According to Likeable author Dave Kerpen, “Social media drives everything.” He’s right.
I witness a horrific thing. At the corner of Hamilton and Nelson in Vancouver, a woman ignores the orange hand and crosses Hamilton to meet the grill of a car forced to complete a right turn. She falls, jumps up and stumbles away. The driver looks distracted by his low Klout score.
This happens often, I’m sure, especially when both rushed texting pedestrian and right-on-red head nodding driver aren’t with it. What disturbs me—beyond the fact that walker and driver don’t have it out—is that no one around me reacts. I watch thumbs text and cars whisk by me.
I study the irresponsive driver and his white car with purple windows as they quickly dash around the corner. He glances back at the pedestrian, who now re-Tweets with a limp.
What’s wrong with us? We can thwart government oppression around the globe via social networking with hashtags. We like kittens and share laughing babies among friends. But something’s wrong out here. Undoubtedly, we forget how to live in the moment.
As we go on about getting engaged online and ensuring sustainable relevancy in rapidly crowding marketplaces, I fear we lose touch with our innate ability to care for what’s in front of us. Let us raise our heads and lower our ridiculously large shades. What do we feel?
Get in touch with that, and maybe it’ll be easier to relate online and react on the street.
