There’s an American food outpost in Paris called Thanksgiving where one can find all kinds of uniquely American processed foodstuffs like Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup and Goldfish crackers. An American journalist recently documented her visit to the store accompanied by two French neighbours who became fascinated with all things American after watching Julie and Julia.
The experience left the journalists’ French friends dumbfounded. At one critical moment the writer picks up a Turkey baster, an object heretofore unfamiliar to her friends, and she describes it as best she can. In response to her description, one friend responds: “For this in France, a lady would use a spoon.”
This got me thinking about how technology has made the food system and food itself worse instead of better and how folks are returning to low-tech foods–the produce aisle instead of all the stuff in boxes. Why use a turkey baster when a spoon would do just fine?
I’ve found that there are many places where low-tech solutions far outshine high-tech ones. Places where email and a universe social media sites have left many useful manual tasks behind with alot of negative side effects.
I was recently at Inc. Magazine’s GrowCo Conference where CEO and author Paul Spiegelman talked about the importance of mailing hand-written notes to employees’ homes. He writes notes to thank people, to express condolences, etc. He keeps a stack of them on his desk at all times. Paul’s dedication to hand written notes reminded me of the benefits of keeping things low tech when trying dealing with valuable human interactions.
Below is my hit list of high-tech human engagement tools that I think are far inferior to their low tech counterparts.
- Facebook Birthday Alerts: Remember when people used to call you on your birthday? You’d come home to a voicemail box full of warm messages. Or, even better, a few coloured envelope stuffed into your mailbox. No number of facebook notes can replace that warm feeling. I wish facebook birthday alerts would just go away. If you don’t know my birthday then don’t bother. If you remember my birthday, give me a call.
- Email Thank Yous: In his FED column, Corey Mintz used to note whether his guests bothered to thank him and in what manner (email, phone call, note). Even though he didn’t come right out and say it, I got the feeling (and maybe I’m projecting) that email thank you’s are his least favourite way to receive expressions of gratitude. I know we’re all busy, but a personal thank you from a guest means the world. Someone cooked you a meal. Is a phone call too much to ask for?
- LinkedIn Invitations: Nothing replaces meeting people face to face, having a glass of wine and breaking bread with them. Physically passing someone your business card with a smile will always be much more meaningful than hiding behind a computer monitor inviting people to join your list. LinkedIn has it’s place, but don’t ever mistake it as a substitute for going out and meeting people as a networking tool.
