The Flight from Conversation

Conversations with Thomas

During this podcast I’m leaning into a conversation about our collective flight from conversation. If you’re looking to upgrade your conversation skills or maybe you simply want to better understand the value of having more face-to-face time with folks in your life, this episode is for you.

I think we’ve sacrificed conversation for mere connection. We’ve found value in the quick connect via text or other modes of communication that do not require our live voices.

At work, at home, in politics, and in our love relationships - be that with our partners, family or friends - we find ways around conversation.

I think we’re tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, be present, be focused or at the extreme, reveal ourselves - we sacrifice dimming our authentic selves perhaps to stay safe or not be noticed.

We develop a taste for what mere connection offers and have come to value the perks of it.

The gathering around the dinner table falls silent. Phones compete for people’s attention.

Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. Screens seem to be winning.

Within our social media feeds, we’re challenged to only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politic that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of how we used to engage one-on-one using real conversation.

I feel conversations are endangered or at least, on the endangered list for humanity.

We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: weren’t conversations the cornerstone of democracy and in business wasn’t it good for the bottom line. In our private lives didn’t it help to build compassion, empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity?

Conversations with Thomas is produced by Adam Ma.