Connecting through Disconnecting

As technology advances, more gadgets are advanced and invented – our dependence on a device increases but our connection to ourselves and others decreases.

Transcript

Good Genie Show.

Connectivity.

Connectivity.

Connectivity.

Connectivity.

Connectivity.

We are in an era where the opportunity to be connected and communicate with one another is at an all-time high.

We've got so many ways to chat,

Catch up,

Converse and respond.

Clusters of text are now considered conversations.

Computerised symbols and graphics are now considered a must to add tone to a textual conversation.

When we moved to Australia in the late 80s,

I remember we had a wind-up phone.

You know,

The one with the dial pad you had to wind around on the numbers you had to turn?

I remember when it used to ring.

Ami would be so excited.

It would be one of our relatives from Sri Lanka.

How did I know that?

Well,

Because Ami would shout as if she were yelling across the Pacific Ocean.

So Sri Lanka could hear her.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Ah,

Chitra.

Honey.

Ah,

Yes,

Yes,

Yes.

No.

Don't tell lies.

What happened?

When I was in high school,

I didn't have a mobile phone up until I was 16.

So any time I went to a friend's place,

I would get the same lecture from Ami.

What is Christina's phone number?

Tell me Courtney's phone number.

Does Chingaling have a mobile?

What is her address?

Can you catch the train there?

Call me when you get there.

Any time I went to a friend's place,

I would get the same lecture from Ami.

This was all good.

But sometimes I'd get so excited to see my friends that I'd actually forget to call her.

And that's when the embarrassment started.

Hello,

Chingaling?

Is Virginia there,

Please?

Hello?

Hello,

Chatsun Shopping Centre?

Virginia there,

Please?

It's Cinemas.

Is Virginia there,

Please?

Hello,

Lunapa?

Virginia there,

Please?

Virginia there,

Please?

I swear my mother had every number in the phone book.

She was like the yellow pages.

She would call on the dot.

She was like the human Google Maps.

She would call exactly at the time I arrived at my destination.

I'm convinced she was involved in some Sri Lankan mafia in the suburb we grew up in.

And she had her spies.

When I taught Ami how to text,

It was a challenge.

But I thought it would make things easier for me.

I got to my destination and would write,

Got here safely.

I'm with Chingaling now and about to go into the movies.

Ami would write back.

OK.

Gone shop for food.

So I probably could have spent more time training Ami on texting.

Remember the good old days of MSN Messenger?

Having an audio chat on there was like the equivalent of magic.

Then there was a good old ICQ Messenger.

I remember when I bought my first Mac during my last year in uni.

Ami was struggling to learn how to use it.

She called me on my mobile and I had the coolest polyphonic ringtone.

Hello,

Ami?

Ah,

Putte.

I'm on your computer.

I'm trying to Skype with aunty Kumari.

There is this circle that keeps spinning and spinning and spinning like the wheel of fortune.

Do I buy a vowel?

Of course.

I used to always tease Ami about how tech illiterate she was.

When I bought her a cordless phone,

It was like Christmas for her.

She would call everyone to brag about it.

Hello,

Krishanti?

Yes,

I'm calling on the cordless.

I'm in the garage.

Ah,

Shemani Nangi?

Yes,

I'm on the cordless.

I'm watching this teledrama.

It keeps dragging and dragging and dragging.

Hi.

Hello,

Nilanji?

Ah,

Shinali Putte.

Ah,

Putte.

Hello,

Winston.

Hello.

We've come such a long way in communications.

We don't just communicate by phone anymore.

Or letters.

There's so many ways now.

Email,

SMS,

Tweeting,

Facebooking,

Instagramming,

YouTubing.

You name it.

With so many options to communicate with so many avenues,

Why is depression at an all-time high?

And the quality of communication between people at an all-time low?

Just how connected are we?

How connected are we to ourselves,

Each other and to the rest of the world?

Why are more people than ever searching for that connection when there's so much connection around us?

So much so that they turn to meditation,

Mindfulness,

The ability to be still,

Without distraction,

Without connection.

With all the texting,

Facebooking,

Tweeting and overactive minds we have,

None of us allow ourselves to get a good night's rest.

We digest news in a different way.

We interact and catch up by merely looking at news feeds and updates.

It's even gotten to a point now that when we go to the bathroom,

Our device comes with us.

The Ginny Show.

Mams,

Do you take your phone to the bathroom with you?

I don't know anyone that doesn't.

I mean,

Am I abnormal for taking my phone with me?

Absolutely not.

I just find it really interesting how over time it's taking your phone into the.

.

.

You know,

The bathroom's a very personal area,

But now we bring in our devices in there.

Isn't it funny the day and age we live in?

It is,

But what would.

.

.

So let's say I'm at a party or a club and suddenly,

You know,

You've got to go pee.

I can't trust a random person to hold my phone,

I guess.

I mean,

I'd have to take you to the bathroom,

Wouldn't I?

Do you take your phone with you when you go to the toilet?

I take a lot of business calls on the toilet and email writing.

Really professional stuff happens on the toilet and entertainment.

Can I ask,

Is the time that you take the phone,

Is it specifically for number one or number two?

Both,

And sometimes.

This is.

.

.

I feel really vulnerable saying this,

But sometimes I'll be done on number one and I'll just still be sitting there on my phone.

Number one?

Yeah,

I'm like done.

And I just need to finish up this thing on the phone.

So now it becomes like a lounge.

So Mo,

Do you take the phone with you when you go into the toilet?

Absolutely.

It's my favourite place to check the phone.

Now tell me,

Do you take it when you're doing number one or number two,

Or do you discriminate?

No discrimination.

Sometimes I just sit there,

Like,

You know,

Not wiped.

I'll just.

.

.

I'm scrolling before you know it,

I'm 20 minutes still on the toilet.

This is pre-wipe.

This is pre-wipe.

OK,

So you're scrolling.

Do you sometimes forget?

I sometimes forget.

Like,

Do I still got to go?

Right.

And then I just get lost in the call or whatever I'm looking at.

Do you do this during,

Like,

You know,

When you work,

You get,

Like,

A toilet break?

You can just take it as you wish.

Well,

It depends on the level of the toilet.

If it's a comfortable toilet,

Yeah.

Do you assess the comfortability of the toilet before you.

.

.

Oh,

Absolutely.

Well,

How do you conduct this?

What's the criteria of assessment?

Of assessment.

Of how comfortable a toilet is.

Well,

You have to make sure there's no dribble on the side.

LAUGHTER You have to inspect around it,

You know.

You got to make sure the toilet paper's not a little bit wet,

You know,

Like somebody's hand's been on it before sanitising.

LAUGHTER So,

You know,

There's a couple of little factors that go into this.

A lot of people,

Especially because when you take the phone with you to the bathroom,

A lot of germs can spread.

Absolutely.

Do you sanitise your phone as well?

Yes.

I actually tell my clients that the reason they have acne on one side of their face is because they're not sanitising their phone.

Really?

Yes.

So,

Hang on.

Unsanitised phones can create.

.

.

Acne.

How does that work?

Particularly on one side of the face.

Think about it.

If you're putting your phone on the left side,

Then you're throwing your phone in your purse with crumbs and different things and your dirty hands are on it.

Of course you're going to get acne on that one side of the face.

Some people don't even think about that,

Do they?

No,

Absolutely not.

They'll be like,

Oh,

Wow,

What a revelation.

LAUGHTER How about you,

Aleah?

Well,

If I'm going to take a number two,

I need entertainment of some form.

And sometimes I just have it with me when I take a number one at work because it's just in my pocket and then I carefully set it on the toilet paper roll holder so that it doesn't fall in the toilet.

And that's pretty much that.

Wow,

It's safe to say that technology really is the shift.

But it doesn't just stop with the bathroom.

How many of us think that we have a fabulous joke or tweet that we must share with our Facebook friends and Twitter followers?

And we're so eager to see how many likes and reactions we get from it.

So,

Like,

I've noticed that I used to get a lot more play on.

.

.

In terms of checking my sayings,

So how many times do I check my responses?

So I used to get a lot more play on Instagram than Facebook,

But now it seems like everybody.

.

.

I don't know if it's a generational thing,

Or,

You know,

My little millennial friends are just migrating back over to Facebook.

Like,

Facebook's getting more traction now for me.

So it depends on what I post.

Like,

If I post a picture,

And I'll be 100% honest,

My lady and I,

We have an obsession with pictures we take together,

So we.

.

.

I'll be depending on how hot the picture is.

So there was one picture we posted.

I forget which one it was.

I think we were at.

.

.

It was a sexy-ass picture.

And she says we always look like we just got out of bed.

Like,

We have these really hot pictures that we take.

So we'll like it,

And we'll unlike it.

For like four days straight,

We kept liking it and un-liking it.

So it kept servicing to people's feeds.

And seeing how she was like,

Oh,

We got 100 likes,

We won't get to 100.

I think it was like,

Within a few minutes,

We had like 20.

We got 20,

We won't get 30.

And we got home,

We were at like 60,

Like,

All right,

We're going to get to 100.

And we just kept liking it and un-liking it.

And she's like,

Did you like it?

I'm like,

No.

She's like,

Unlike the shit,

And like it again.

I'm like,

Okay,

Cool.

It was strategic.

I think that's when I'm the most anal about it.

And we don't do it because we don't post that much.

So it's also fun.

But if I post something and I think the shit is hilarious,

And I don't get comments,

Then I'm like really obsessed with it.

I am the person that will like constantly check it.

Like when I post,

And you know what?

Honestly,

I try to say that I'm just checking for like,

It's my analytical brain.

Like,

Because I'm really trying to,

Right now I'm trying to see out of the content that I post,

What is the most popular.

Like if it's a picture or something,

Like I usually,

Like I just let that fly.

Like I won't really care about the post.

But when I'm really checking,

I mean for likes,

But when I'm really checking for likes,

I'll keep my phone out.

I'll check like every minute.

Honestly,

I'll be like,

Oh snap,

You know,

Who likes it?

Like I want to see if certain content,

It buzzes,

You know,

Is more appealing,

Is it trending.

In my own little world.

So I will,

I'll check like every minute.

And my lady hates it.

She hates it.

She's like,

You're still looking,

You're still looking at your post from earlier.

Yeah,

I'm still looking.

I'm trying to see.

I'm trying to see what,

You know,

How people are receiving me right now.

So yeah,

I can be that person.

But if it has to be something that I care about,

If it's something that I'm just like posting,

Like I don't care.

But yeah.

So what is the actual ultimate validation for a social media post?

See,

Comments to me are like an Oscar.

Like likes are great.

But if I get comments,

If I get several comments,

Then it's a wrap.

Then I'm good for the,

I don't need to post shit for the rest of the month.

So there was one,

I think my most infamous post that I had.

It was one picture I posted.

I think it was,

Oh,

It was actually,

Look at that.

It was this time last year.

I was home for a friend's birthday.

And I had just found a new barber.

And it was when I was just starting to really,

Really come into myself with my new look.

And I posted a selfie in the mirror and I had on this nice outfit.

I had on these new sneakers.

It was for anyone who knows me,

It was a completely new look.

And that was the most likes and comments that I'd ever gotten.

And I was obsessed with that post.

Matter of fact,

We want to look at it when we go for coal.

I was so obsessed with that post and the likes it was getting in the comments.

Like I felt famous.

I was replying to everybody's comments.

Kept the conversation going.

So when I get comments,

Comments are when I really feel special and I'm good.

So if I get no likes in one comment,

Then I'm good.

But I will check it frequently depending on what it is.

The Jenny Show.

If anything offends you,

Please visit omgicantbelievesenniesaidthat.

Com Social media and all this hyper-connectivity is giving everyone a taste of fame.

That very essence of what it is to receive constant adoration from people we may not necessarily be close to or even like.

Validation from people we probably think about a total of 120 seconds a year,

If at all.

So why is it that we put so much importance onto a device,

A stream of communication that really isn't something we can touch or feel?

We plug into a cultural matrix of online validation.

Have you heard interviews with people in the limelight?

I'm not generalising by saying this,

But in some instances,

I feel a hefty price is paid for this.

Ever wondered why there was a saying,

Prices to fame or prices of fame?

In our 21st century,

We've gotten to a stage where the best way to connect with ourselves and each other is to disconnect from all forms of digital connectivity.

The Deli Llama encourages an hour a day to yourself.

That's 60 minutes,

3,

600 seconds a day to yourself to spend with no one else but yourself.

It's a way of recharging your batteries,

Checking in with your inner child,

Stilling your mind.

You don't necessarily have to meditate in this hour.

You could read,

Go for a walk,

Work out,

Play with your child,

Take yourself out to coffee.

But these 3,

600 seconds,

60 minutes each day,

For you,

It is possibly the most important investment you will make in your life.

An investment that ensures you won't feel by the time you're 60 that life has just passed you by.

That you've actually spent more time with your loved ones than on your computer or your smartphone.

That you can see your child more than you're in box.

Do it.

60 minutes a day.

Call it me time.

Call it downtime.

Call it whatever you wish.

Just don't make connectivity your number one when you're doing number two.

The Ginny Show!

The Ginny Show is a weekly podcast produced by Sam Phelps from CV Audio.

Our team includes Sebastian On Air,

Joey Middleton,

Visual Tonic and ILDK Media.

And me,

The voiceover,

Missy.

Hello!

Ginny Saraswati is the executive producer.

For more information,

Please visit theginnyshow.

Com.

Keep in touch between shows via Facebook,

Instagram and Twitter.

At The Ginny Show.

Check back next Wednesday for another episode and have a magical week!

Reviews

Loved this! Relatable, entertaining, and a great message! When I was a teenager, it was a big deal to get your own separate phone line in your bedroom! 😁

Fun and interesting. Thanks 🌹

Was hoping to relax, but the humour and doing a good belly laugh felt exhilarating. 😁 This is quite different, but very effective and energising.

Great. Love the talks and love your openess. I can identify. X M

Love your podcasts!!

Too funny, I laughed out loud as well. Loved the beginning especially with the rotary phone transition to cordless to texting. And then the reality hits - what have we done? I will never look at someone else's cell phone in the same way...and know I'm not crazy when I want to leave a public washroom when it is obvious someone is chatting on their 📱 behind closed doors. Maybe I should leave you two alone to do your business lol...

Laughed right out loud! So relevant, so real, excellent!

Hilarious! I laughed out loud the entire time, but the message truly resonates. Thank you!

oh gosh u know what exactly to say .. and how to say it right

I love ❤️it, it is LOL 😂

Funny and interesting as always!