My Social Network

One morning four of us gathered to have brunch. We met at 11 AM in a lovely NYC diner. The conversation immediately began on the latest political guffaws as we settled into our seats. Our only interruption was the waiter trying to get us started. At this point all we needed was water. As the four of us chatted, we were all engaged as we spiraled from this conversation the next. What I found most interesting was how we when we were remiss in a name or fact, we were able to help each other form the clues. None of us had the technology to immediately look things up, so we had to depend on each other as we did problem solving charades to get the facts. We ordered after an hour. We moved from talking in pairs back to all four and then back to a different pair. As we picked at our meals, our waiters changed and the water kept flowing. At one point we noticed all the other patrons had changed. After we paid our bill we sat for awhile and continued our amazing conversations all without the aid of technology. When we got up to leave, we discovered it was 3 PM.

Reading "Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives" gave me pause after my own experience at brunch and I wondered how the youth would survive without technology.