The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

Part 1 mentioned several blog posts that caught my eye and lead to this thread. Part 2 linked announcing going off the grid with asking someone to watch your house while you're away and Part 3 provided some hints as to why some people can get off the grid more easily than others. Part 4 had me wondering why popular culture suggests that taking time for ones' self is an undesirable activity and Part 5 listed some things we've documented in our research.

Part 6 dealt with SIMM behavior and why some cultures have no problem unplugging (if they even plug in as people in the US think of it). Parts 7a and 7b were contributed by one of our researchers and dealt with Emailless Fridays. Here we begin bringing threads together.

• People letting others know they're going to be off the grid and out of contact
• Some folks will ask their neighbors to watch their house while they're away
• People who partake in voluntary simplification (not just me and mine) have less trouble (sometimes much less trouble) than others going gridless
• People who define themselves as "gadget freaks" have lots of trouble going gridless
• It seems that spending time with one's own thoughts, "Me Time", is to be avoided
• There is both a qualitative and quantitative difference between continuing social contact with people you knew offline before you went online and with people you've only known online
• We might get to a point where the extent of our social contacts are completely virtual
• We're witnessing increasing job dissatisfaction panthetically. The people who are sharing their dissatisfaction tend to be people who have no "Me Time".
• The need for establishing Media Free Zones may be cultural in nature
• Companies are instituting Emailless Fridays
• The concept is initially disturbing to employees then broadly accepted by them

So here goes and I hope it's worth it.

One of the most powerful tools I use is a simple two part question; what is gained, what is lost? I use this tool with clients, with students, with co-workers, in life. I can't think of a decision that it doesn't apply to and I don't apply it to every decision I make.

Never-the-less, what is gained by becoming gridless? There are many answers and one that pervades all the above is that people can't contact you. More correctly, you have to make a more than usual effort to contact others. Whenever effort is involved both economics and physics engage (and yes, I study econophysics. Fascinating papers being written in that field). Increased effort is either a resource or energy issue, and if you start recognizing energy as a resource you're better than half way there.

Making an effort to contact someone else (a common occurrence not terribly long ago. There was no generally accessible public grid until the mid to late 1990's. Prior to that, if you had a mobile phone, which meant you also knew your mobile operator, you had capital M money) means you're making a statement about someone else's worth in your life.

Whoa! A public statement that I value person A more than I value person B. Oh, my. Person B might be offended. What am I to do? What will person B think?

[Anecdote: at a recent conference I was sitting with a few people. One admitted that I frightened them because they knew that I knew more about what they were thinking than they knew about what they were thinking. Another person concurred. I smiled and responded, "Please understand me. I like you, enjoy your company and think of you as a friend. But do you honestly think you're so important to me that I'm going to spend my time focusing my attention on you? That's an amazing statement of ego and vanity, don't you think?" They were relieved and also admitted that it actually bothered them to be told they weren't that important. Intellectually they had no problem with it, it made total sense and was completely understandable. Emotionally? Ouch!]

(more to follow)

Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.

Links for this post:

• Email Bankruptcy blog posts
• The Eventing Yourself Blog arc
• Going Off the Grid
• In this arc:
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 1)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 2)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 3)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 4)
  • The Curse of Social Networks
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 5)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 6)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 7a)
  • Media Free? That's easy...and scary. Know why? (Part 7b)
• MediaFreeZones
• Proof I'm a Luddite
• Unplugging... why is it so hard?
• Voluntary Simplification blog posts

• IMedia Brand Summit on 9-12 Sept 07
• XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
• DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
• Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.