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The Art of Perception: Adapting in a Digital World, with Amy Herman, Lawyer, Art Historian, and Author, The Art of Perception
Manage technology use
What I’ve learned from thinking about disruptive technology and reading about it, is disruptive is not inherently negative. What disruption does, is it just changes the way we do things. And I’ve reached the conclusion that we’re never going to get rid of our technology. And it’s not something I want to do. We all rely on our technology. We need it to do our jobs. We need it to live our lives, but there is no substitute for human interaction. The most powerful weapon we have is a human brain, attached to two eyes. And I think that technology can supplement that, but it can never substitute for it. I tell people figuratively and literally look up. Look up from your screens, look people in the eye, reinforce your human connections because your technology and the information that you get in your technology can only help underscore those relationships, but they can’t substitute for them.
Does that mean less screen time maybe, but when you look up, you look out windows, you look at other people, it helps you engage in the world in a way that technology can never do. The real advice I give people, “Look up.” Look up and look out and use your technology creatively. Use it when you need to use it. Rely on it when you need to rely on it, but really make an effort to underscore the human interaction that you have both professionally and personally. I find the value of human interaction, even when you can pick up the phone.
Sometimes if I want to … If someone asked me complicated questions in an email, and I think, “This is going to take too long to write, and I’m going to edit it.” I pick up the phone and they’re so grateful to have a conversation. And I also believe that the best brainstorming and the most creative ideas come face to face. A lot of work happens on email, a lot of work happens virtually and it has to, but I think face-to-face interaction and brainstorming is still the root of creativity.
Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness is the idea of living your life purposefully and with great consideration to what you’re doing at all times. And if we think … And I’m not advocating compartmentalizing our worlds, but I try to do this. I try to live what I preach in The Art of Perception. That to engage with the world, you have to perceive the world around you. There’s engaging using your technology and there’s mindfulness not using your technology and to be mindful of the distinction. The way no one masters perception, we don’t master mindfulness. It’s always a work in progress. We have to think about each day as we live it. How are we going to do what it is that we have to do. Even to assessing the simplest tasks we have to do, and then articulating, even to ourselves, “I’m going to do this. This is going to be difficult.” When we have difficult things to communicate and articulate sensitive subjects, things we don’t want to talk about, things that make us uncomfortable if you preface the conversation with, ‘stick with me here, this is not an easy topic to talk about’ you’ll have more attention given.
And if we just articulate rather than diving in and saying, “Okay, today, we’re going to talk about X.” People are competing for attention and it’s a valued commodity so when you alert people that you need their attention, that’s part of engaging. And that takes mindfulness to be able to think about that and articulate it. Engage in conversation with people and say, “Come here and let me tell you about what I’m doing. What do you think? Here’s the conclusion I’ve reached. Am I justified here? Is there something I might be missing? Is there another way to look at this?” And you would be amazed. I think it’s very selfish. I say this selfishly, multiple perspectives make for better decisions. You make more informed decisions when you seek other opinions. And yes, it might be time-consuming. Yes, it means looking up from your screens. But in the end, I think people are so well-served by seeking collaboration of colleagues because you make a better, more informed decision and it helps you do your job more effectively.