In 1994, I was among the pioneers investigating which elements of face-to-face interaction could become online interactions. We concluded that only interactions that can be measured could be placed online. These are social connections of accepting or rejecting what is placed in front of us.  

I then moved on to help young people who mainly experience social connections as a series of rejections. I helped them learn that connection is more nuanced than avoiding rejection.

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​​Many years later, I discovered the work of Dr Iain McGilchrist. His work enabled me to understand the unforeseen consequences of our work in 1994. To be fair, we didn’t predict the internet or the mobile phones we have today. But today, the goal of online and face-to-face connections is to accept or reject what is put in front of us. Connection is a quick yes or no as we scroll, swipe, accept, or reject in a battle for acknowledgement and accommodation of differences. We don’t change what we do, even when we know it is broken, even killing people, because we only pay attention to acknowledging and accommodating everyone. We can’t stop ourselves, even when we know it means losing our identity and our sense of self, because we only see the goal of surface-level social cohesion. As the world around us stops working. We get today’s world.
 

FlowStateTrainer.com is me trying to play my part in correcting this. For my children. 

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