Communication without connection

I read a great phrase in a blog I subscribe to this morning. It was "on one level we have so much communication, but on another level, so little connection. So much information, but so little understanding."

Technologically we are fantasticaly advanced. I can hardly keep pace with the changes and the new information that science is throwing at us on a daily basis. We can communicate almost instantaneously vocally and visually by mobile phone, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., etc., but we have lost some of the ability to connect as families, communities, colleagues and friends. So much knowledge, so much information, so little wisdom.

Two of the most powerful things we can do are to really listen, not just to words but to the communication that lives in the spaces between the words, and to also suspend judgement and just be curious as to what it must be like to be in another person's shoes.

By the way, the quote at the top comes from Roz Savage, who is currently attempting to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific (yes, that is the Pacific). See http://rozsavage.com/ for more information (but no connection) on Roz.