Virtually there...

A while ago I was sitting with a consulting colleague at Manchester airport waiting for a flight to Switzerland.  We were both tapping away on our phones - occasionally taking a moment to fall into a real conversation but the quickly drifting back into our virtual worlds.

For two organisation consultants who specialise in presence and relational practice the irony was not lost on us.

So we tweeted about it.  Then we took photos and tweeted them too...

Now I see that Social Media Anxiety Disorder (SMAD) might be the next illness we create.

And so I've become fascinated with images of people wandering around in their virtual worlds, oblivious to all around them, sometimes with faces lit up by the glow of the tiny screens. It's all rather magical and rather beautiful, I think.

Or maybe I'm a little bit SMAD....

Yeah, anyway, you can follow me on Twitter...!

Update (29 Apr): See this NYTimes article on the disconnecting nature of our virtual conversations.