There’s a communications frenzy going on across the world. Mobile phones let us talk whenever we want to, wherever we are; email gives us instant access to friends and family and instant messaging allows us to have virtual conversations across the miles. How is it then, that we still manage to lose touch with the people who matter to us?
1. We’re moving on
More than ever before, we’re leaving our home towns and even our countries to seek out exciting and rewarding opportunities elsewhere. Fewer and fewer of us grow old in the place where we grew up. We move on to new jobs, new partners, new homes and new lives. We extend our social circle so that it becomes almost physically impossible to keep in touch with everyone we meet. Email helps us to maintain relationships, but there’s still no real substitute for a good long chat on the phone – but the more we move, the more likely we are to change our numbers and lose our friends.
2. We’re taking control
Consumer power is growing. That means that we’re far more willing than we used to be to change our phone provider, our electricity supplier and our internet connection. Changing numbers and addresses on a regular basis often results in someone not being aware of your new number or your new email and bang! You’ve lost touch. Our lives are busy and it’s easy to leave people behind. If you’re the sort of person that religiously files new address cards so that you are up-to-date with your friends’ movements, that’s great. If you’re not quite so organised, it can be easy to lose those new details and be stuck the next time you want to get in touch.
3. Don’t be careless, be clever!
There are ways that you can get back in touch with friends who you haven’t had contact with for a while. School and College reunion boards on the internet are great ways to keep in touch, but new online resources are allowing you to search for and be found by old friends and extended family. Use these resources to record your old phone numbers and then your friends can find you just by typing in the number they have for you. It’s a service that will bring thousands of people together again.
