How often have you seen a couple at a restaurant engrossed in their phones instead of each other? Most of us agree that this occurs all too frequently. Indeed, you could easily believe that personal connections have become less valuable to us than digital ones. 

Ironically, it is precisely our need for constant personal interaction that has fueled digital interaction.  However, they are not the same and are definitely not interchangeable. On the one hand, we love technology—most of use could never be without our smart phones. On the other, we are wired to love tangible and physical interaction. For the joy of speaking to someone face to face, anticipating the curve of their lips as they begin to smile, and being washed over by the warmth of their voice, a smiley face just isn’t going to cut it.

Both personal interaction and digital interaction are necessary and important, but the key is knowing when to use each, and in particular how to resist the allure of digital when personal would be better and more fulfilling.

The Easy Temptation

The pull of technology today is in many ways no different than the lure of the Sirens in Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey. The hero Odysseus sails home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy to reclaim his land and reunite with his family. Along his journey, he encounters the Sirens, whose song is so sweet that none can resist it: every previous sailor to hear the enchanting song immediately steered towards the Sirens, only to hit the rocks nearby and sink.

Odysseus knows that he wants to hear the song, but he also doesn’t want to crash the ship and fail in his quest. So, he literally puts himself “in a bind.” He has his crew tie him to the mast of the ship, and has the rest of the sailors fill their ears with beeswax, so that only he can hear the song, but he is tightly bound and cannot sink the ship.

By constraining himself this way, Odysseus actually achieves a better outcome. This tale from the Odyssey is an example of how behavioral economists approach “dynamic inconsistency,” the idea that our preferences may change over time in ways that directly conflict with previous desires. That is, I would like to have deeper engaging conversations with friends in person, but I know that when my phone vibrates I will immediately turn to the conversation my other friends are having on Twitter. I would like to have better relationships with my colleagues at work, but when faced with a choice between dropping by their office or shooting them an email, I’ll choose the latter. How to break the spell?

Breaking the Spell

Two modern artists have captured this sentiment directly in their work:  the enigmatic Banksy conveys this brilliantly in his new street art, “Mobile Lovers*,” and writer/director Gary Turk speaks with power about this in the moving short film, “Look Up*.” “Mobile Lovers” speaks for itself, and Turk’s video of a spoken word love story pleads with an online generation to “look up” from our personal devices long enough to seize real life in its full satisfaction. Both artists are getting plenty of airplay and online shares right now—“Look Up” is at forty million views and counting. Clearly the Siren call of digital is worrying us.  

Dont let your device dictate who you are

Sherry Turkle, MIT professor of social studies of science and technology, lamented the disconnectedness of society in her powerful TED talk "Connected but alone?" & her New York Times article, “The Flight From Conversation,” two years ago. She warned that we are sacrificing conversation for a connection and that our devices are becoming so powerful that they change not only what we do, but also who we are.

Overindulging on digital turns us into robots, and it can be a slippery slope—the only limit to indefinite computer and device use is mental exhaustion. In his TEDx talk, Professor Luis Almeida interviews students who exhibit symptoms of “technology numbness” from logging long hours online without any breaks.

Strike a balance between digital literacies and interpersonal conversation

However, quitting cold turkey isn’t just going to work—it’s not realistic. We believe that technology that enhances personal interactions and that helps us switch back and forth between personal and digital is the real answer.

High school teacher Paul Barnwell of The Atlantic has this exact kind of approach in mind and applies it in his classroom. He asks, “What if we focused on sharpening students’ ability to move back and forth between the digital and real world?” If the march of digital interaction is inevitable, breaking the spell means not simply telling students to avoid digital interactions but teaching them to know when digital or personal are the right way to communicate. 

“We can use technology to encourage students to strike a balance between digital literacies and interpersonal conversation,” argues Barnwell. He notes that students tend to take conversations more seriously when recorded and that smartphones make excellent recording devices. 

Without a doubt, digital interaction is here to stay and clearly some types of communication are better on our “always-on” mobile devices, like where to meet or how to get there. But when we use the same technology for more complex items it fails us. Indeed, there is real joy and richness in connecting in person. One can only guess what personal connection Banksy’s mobile lovers are missing by staying digitally connected. 

Photo* - "Mobile Lovers," by Banksy
Video* - “Look Up,” by Gary Turk

At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App for free.

How to find creative solutions to new problems? New research suggests that we actually do this better when we focus less. Taking a broader approach to problem solving can help with combining novel ideas that have a huge impact.

The grasshopper experiment

In a classic episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” Raj Koothrappali realizes he can only talk to girls if he drinks. He consumes round after round of grasshopper cocktails and becomes more talkative after each one. Though not immediately obvious, the reason why cocktails helped Raj actually offers insight into finding creative solutions to new problems.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago  recently conducted a study  in which participants watched a short movie and then afterward were given a creative word association task. Half just watched the film, and the other half watched the film while drinking an alcoholic cocktail. While both groups performed about equally well before the film, afterward the group that was given the cocktail performed significantly better on the creative task—they not only completed the problem more quickly, but were also more accurate.

“Tricking” your brain

Psychology has taught us that our brains are complicated pattern recognizers. In fact, this is how we learn language at a very young age (8 months!). By recognizing the relative probabilities of hearing one kind of speech sound paired with the next, we keep a record of these patterns and develop an intuitive sense for where words end and begin. New York Times bestselling author Ray Kurzweil agrees, and explains in his book, How to Create a Mind, that the brain uses a pattern of “search parameters” to keep an inventory of ideas and the relationships between them.

Usually, the brain searches out local networks—these are ideas that are already connected in a familiar way. This is the default process, and how our brains operate when we apply focus. This means that we actually have a natural bias against innovation. In order to overcome this, we need to trick the brain into applying a broader approach that allows for creating new connections and combining novel ideas: in other words, searching in more far-flung regions of the brain.

Cocktails help with creativity because alcohol broadens the focus of attention just enough for us to connect more distantly related ideas. The same lowered inhibition that helped Raj talk to girls also helps with connecting distant ideas to come up with novel combinations.

Don’t run to the bar just yet

There’s another effect at work here too. The low levels of alcohol consumed by the participants also helped to relax their mood. Researchers Mark Beeman and Karuna Subramaniam of Northwestern University found that participants who watched a short comedy routine were able to solve word puzzles requiring creativity with much more intuitive insight.

Beeman explains, “What we think is happening is that the humor, this positive mood, is lowering the brain’s threshold for detecting weaker or more remote connections.” These weaker and more remote connections are what unlock the brain’s creative ability to solve puzzles with novel solutions and apply new innovations to previously unthought-of areas.

Put on a smile

There are insights from neuroscience to back this up too. When we’re more stressed, this activates a flight-or-fight response within the brain. Formally called the Reticular Activating System, this shifts control of the brain to from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system. The limbic system is great for survival—it helps us make instinctive decisions under pressure. At the same time, however, it deprioritizes the need for creativity and stays away from novelty.

When we relax, the Reticular Activating System toggles control back to the cerebral cortex. Here, the brain is free to engage in creative and nuanced thinking, the kind that results from more symbolic thinking. Some research has suggested that many forms of “writer’s block” are actually a result of these “limbic takeovers” in the brain.

Practice makes perfect

Creativity doesn’t happen by accident—it’s a skill we can hone and develop through training our brains to think a certain way. In a business setting, for example, discussing potential product innovations with your team, how can you get your team to "focus less" to be "more creative"?

Start with these three ideas to get in the habit of thinking creatively:

Inject humor: Depending on your own comedic abilities, opening with a joke can be dangerous. But let someone else do the heavy lifting for you: play a quick YouTube clip or share a funny blog post to lighten the mood before you get started.

Practice connecting distant ideas: Bestselling author Steven Kotler suggests reading two articles at random from your favorite newspaper or online news source. Then, do an exercise writing a few sentences about how the articles could possibly relate to one another. This trains the brain to broaden the “search parameters” it has in its repertoire.

Have a happy hour: Sometimes the Raj route is best. Institute a Friday evening happy hour after work, and facilitate interactions with your team. By combining casual drinks with positive mood (who isn’t in a good mood by the end of the workday Friday?), you’re at the intersection where great innovative ideas are born.

Photo* - Big Bang Theory Wiki

At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.

You might be familiar with the well-known “Grandmother Test” for determining how user-friendly and easy to understand an idea is. Sit down your grandmother, grandfather, or another family member who is completely unfamiliar with the subject area you’re working on, give them your best pitch, and see if they get the basic idea.

Clarity is a good start, but its not enough. The main point of the test is to make sure that people will understand what you’re talking about. But, your grandmother will usually try to support you and listen no matter what you have to say. Imagine giving the same talk to someone you just met in a bar—would they get bored and walk away?

IDEO Project Lead Nicole Kahn has a solution for transforming presentations into stories that captivate, and she calls it the “Bar Test.”

"Bars are friendly, social places, sure, but something really important happens when you’re at a bar,” explains Kahn. “You use really direct language. You make sure that what you’re saying is entertaining and engaging. You don’t quote tons of data. You don’t use overly corporate language — except maybe in air quotes.”

Before giving a presentation, Kahn and her IDEO colleagues run the Bar Test by giving their presentations to friends or co-workers who are unfamiliar with the subject area. "We grab a colleague …and buy them a beer or a coffee and spend 15 minutes to see if they understand the point of the presentation."

15 minutes could save you.....

Kahn recommends taking 15 minutes to see if they understand the point of the presentation. “We look for when they lean in, or when they look away or reach for their phone. We look for nods and ‘uh-huhs’—we look for what surprises and delights. That’s how we figure out what’s sticky and resonating.”

Why so short? Using only 15 minutes has a dual-pronged effect. First, it forces the story to be succinct. You must get to the point quickly, and also make the story pop. This is helpful, because it compels us to sift through what’s really important for conveying an idea. You might have 5 or 8 slides relating to an idea, but are they all really necessary for describing the heart of your idea?

15 minutes also keeps the investment low. That’s the beauty of the Bar test: it allows for a low-cost trial and error approach. If your first attempt doesn’t get a great response, that’s all right—spend your next 15-minute session using a new approach. The key is to be flexible, and don’t get stuck on one idea.

Passing the Bar test

Kahn stresses three essential strategies

Develop a cohesive “through-line”: What is the main takeaway? Make sure everything in your presentation builds up to and reinforces the underlying “big idea.”

Use compelling anecdotes: These little narratives are what bring your ideas to life and make them personal. Kahn suggests using anecdotes that “provide a tactile sense of experience, take your audience on a journey, and create drama.”

Incorporate personal reflection: Don’t be a robot. Think strategically about moments when you can use your own personal experiences and feelings. These can help cue your audience to react and feel what you want them to during the story.

More bar tricks

Use questions to engage others. Arthur Palac, formerly one of Miller Beers' top ranked salespeople, describes the importance of bolstering your message by asking reinforcing questions such as “Have you ever felt that before?” or “Has something like this ever happened to you?” According to Palac, "If you’ve been talking for over 20 minutes and you haven’t asked a single question of the audience, you’ve lost them."  

Use visuals. Visuals don’t just provide another level of information you can use to deliver your ideas, they actually change the dynamics of the entire presentation. Kahn explains, “When you have visuals on the screen and not a lot of words, you make people dependent on you as the presenter to know what’s going on. You have the authority in the room. The slides do not.” Text-filled slides usurp your power to control the room, craft your personal narrative, and hold the audience’s attention.

The next time you need to get buy-in for an idea or make a sales pitch to a customer give the Bar Test a try. No offense to grandma of course.

Photo* - Daily Star Sunday

At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.

For most of us, undoubtedly the answer is yes. Just the mention of "your first kiss" brings a flood of memories, easily accessible and not faded by time. It is no surprise, then, that last month Tatia Pilieva’s video of complete strangers kissing for the first time became a viral sensation on YouTube. 

Why was your first kiss so memorable? 

Psychologist Haig Kouyoumdjian explains, "Think about your past school days of having to learn a set of new vocabulary words each week. Now, think back to the first kiss you had or your high school prom date. Most probably, you had to put forth great effort to remember the vocabulary words. In contrast, when you were actually having your first kiss or your prom date, I bet you weren’t trying to commit them to memory."

It’s all about the way that the brain is wired. Of all the sensory receptors in the brain, 70% are located in the eyes, and most of the sensory cortex is devoted to processing visual information. Kouyoumdjian puts it well when suggesting that our brain is primarily an image processor, not a word processor.

Achilles' Ear

Researchers James Bigelow and Amy Poremba at the University of Iowa have conducted a new study dubbed, “Achilles’ Ear.” They had their study subjects listen to recordings of sounds, view images of shapes, or feel vibrations of a metal bar. Each subject was then presented with a second sound, image or vibration and asked to recall if it was the same or different. The authors discovered that subjects were much more likely to make mistakes if they were presented only with a sound rather then images and vibrations. Furthermore, their ability to remember got worse at a much faster rate for sounds than for images or vibrations. The conclusion? We are much better at remembering things when we hear, feel and see them.

There are huge implications for communication here. Molecular biologist John Medina makes the connection clear in his book, Brain Rules. He argues for the need to expand communication beyond just the words on page or the text on the slide. He puts it bluntly: “Professionals everywhere need to know about the incredible inefficiency of text-based information and the incredible effects of images. Burn your current PowerPoint presentations and make new ones.”

How can you translate this knowledge to improve your own communications? Here are three tips:

Visualize data: Present numbers in charts instead of text. To explain that your company's market share growth in Asia is double the growth in Europe, even a simple line graph or pie/bar chart will make a greater impact than text.

Translate concepts to images: Identify a memorable image that easily translates into words and sounds for each point you are trying to communicate. Have a dialog with your audience or customer to bring a sense of sound into your presentation.

Personalize with a hands-on experience: Let your audience "touch" your presentation. When presenting on a tablet, for example, don't be afraid to hand it over and let your audience navigate your presentation with you. 

The idea that we learn and remember more by seeing and doing has long been present in folk history. The Chinese philosopher Confucius is famously quoted as saying, "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." 

Confucius may not have been thinking of first kisses when he shared this wisdom, but the basic principles are the same. Images and interaction are the keys to better communication. 

Photo*-Tatia Pilieva via inc.com, PLOS ONE Journal


At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.