Day 79 - Technology & Personlisation

I celebrated my birthday a few days back. One more year of life and one more year of experiences.

It always feels great when people wish you on your birthday. This is one day when friends and family try to make it a special day for you and it always feels good to revel in it. Over the last couple of years though there has been a subtle change in the way that wishes have come my way on this day. While earlier it used to be a lot of cards delivered by the postman, today its more about wishes on facebook profile page, sms-es on the cell phone, calls from people and visits to the house by some.

As I looked at all this on my birthday I realised that technology has pushed the boundaries of access and it is up to oneself to take it in whichever way you want. What do I mean by that?

At one end of the spectrum I can feel sad that I no longer receive those birthday cards from family and friends. I loved receiving them and I still have some of them from 10 years back. Those were special moments as your friend or family sent you a card and you waited to receive it. You waited for them and enjoyed the moment of ripping open the envelope. Some cards were funny, some emotional and some with nice messages. As I got those cards, I would feel the importance that the person attached to me. They would gone to a shop, looked at many cards before selecting one, taken the pain to write the message, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and posted it. It was a process of connecting with the person at the other end and a small gesture to make you understand how special you were. You could also know how important you were to whom when the person sent the card. You attached a special value to receiving birthday wishes from these people and felt sad if you didn't receive a card one year for whatever reason. It was personal!

At the other end of the spectrum is today's world where you receive hundreds of messages on your facebook or Orkut profile page and many sms-es on your phone on the day of your birthday. A lot these wishes, however, are people who are wishing you for the sake of wishing you with no personal interest in the same. Oh, it's his birthday,let me just send a wish and be done with. I am guilty of that too. But technology has given us the ability to keep in touch with people that we would normally have not. I receive wishes from my college, school and work people who normally would have never known my birthday or wished me. Its a good way to keep in touch with them. But I think the personalisation is gone.

So does this whole technology thing destroy personal touch?

I think not. I think the definition of personalisation changes with changing times. In today's world a personal touch is something different. While earlier it would mean taking the effort to select and send a card, in today's world you need to look at it differently. In today's technology conscious world there are levels. Let's assume a scale of 1 to 5 of personalisation with 1 being least personal and hence least effort and 5 being the most and hence very close.

1. People who wish you on your profile page are ones who want to be in touch and use the benefit of technology to wish you on your special day.
2. People who sms you exhibit a slightly more degree of being personal with you - they know your number and have taken the effort to wish you through that technology
3. People who call you are those who value you more and have taken a larger effort to actually spend the time and effort to engage with you on your special day and wish you. They may be at a far away place or separated by time and distance but they call you nevertheless. They would want to be at '4' but cannot due to geographical or some other reason.
4. People who visit you on your birthday and party with you or spend time with you exhibit just how much they value you. They have taken the effort not to hind behind the technology mask or use the tools but to actually come and visit you on your birthday or some day near your birthday.
5. People who give you gifts or make special gifts for you are the most personal ones or those who consider you as most close to them. They have not only taken the effort to come but also, like in old days, actually spent time thinking about you and what would make you happy. Hold these people close to you and value them a lot.
   

In this technology hungry and avid world its the 3's, 4's and the 5's who you should value the most and tell them that you value and appreciate what they do for you.

That is personalisation in the technology world!

How many do you have in these categories?