Colin Easton and The Stranger Project

Doesn’t matter who the person is, everyone has their story to tell – Colin Easton can testify to that.

Colin Easton is the founder of The Stranger Project. In this project, Easton blogs about a person’s story whom he just met on the streets. Conversation can take up to 5 minutes to almost an hour and the stories vary from very general to the deepest secrets.

In 2004, Easton took a Communication program in pursuit of becoming a videographer. After realizing how much work it was, he decided to pursue radio casting. In 2013, he was diagnosed with a major clinical depression – knowing this made him uncomfortable. Thus, he decided to change, and in 2014 he created The Stranger Project.

The stories that people tell Easton have an immense impact on his condition, in a way that he learned to value connecting and communicating with people. He emphasized that “communication is for our well being”. He testified that, now he is confident in vocalizing his experience of depression.

When talking to strangers it is easy to predict, in advance, a person’s character; however, a book shouldn’t be judge by its cover – same goes with people. Easton can agree with this truth with his experience with Tom. Tom was a man Easton met on his 10^th day of the project. Although Tom’s appearance didn’t say it, but he is worth being acknowledged. He donated $20,000 to the Vancouver General Hospital, despite being diagnose with cancer.

Every person wants to be heard, regardless if there’s a big audience or just one listener. A simple smile, eye-contact, and a gentle approach can leave a big impact in one’s life. Easton says that the reward of this project is, “there is a ripple effect”: people will start approaching you and thanking you as well.

TECHNOLOGY’S IMPACT ON PEOPLE

Technology’s greatest achievement is it improve the way we communicate with people. I recall the time when we first moved in Canada in 2003 and we had to suffer from buying $5 international phone cards, use low-quality webcams, and go through the slow internet connection just to communicate with our family back home in the Philippines. Today, the relationship I lost with my cousins is re-connected with new technology. As Dr. Hampton in The Wall Street Journal has said (2015), “What has changed is that communication technologies have made many of our relationships more persistent and pervasive.” Technology helps long-distance relationships; however, it impacts people’s social life.

I spoke with a six-year old, and he told me he would rather play video games than attend a kids club. I don’t blame him because this is the generation he was born in. Larry Rosen says “technology is distracting us from our real-world relationships” (The Wall Street Journal, 2015). Nowadays, people struggle to communicate with others. It is not that we don’t want to, we just don’t know how and won’t put effort to try. When we are place in an uncomfortable situation where we have no one to talk, an instant reaction is to get our phone. We don’t like to be out of our comfort zone. We much rather speak with someone that physically isn’t there, than face the awkward situation of trying to talk to a stranger. This is because tools enable us to do that. Rosen says, “we spend so much time maintaining superficial connections online that we aren’t dedicating enough time or effort to cultivating deeper real-life relationships” (The Wall Street Journal, 2015). This is an issue we face today, as more people struggles to communicate, which is fundamental in our lives.

Technology has a psychological impact on people’s lives as well. Nomadic Matt (2017) mentions, “If you are doing something else while talking to someone, you are subtly signaling to them that they aren’t important, even if you can parrot back everything they said.” We don’t like it when others use their phone in front of us. It makes us feel less valuable. Technology is controlling our lives in an unhealthy way. When our phone vibrates or make noises, we instantly check it. Even worse, we are constantly checking our phone even when it doesn’t ring. Rosen says, “our constant need to check comes from anxiety about needing to know what is happening in our virtual worlds” (The Wall Street Journal, 2015). At gathers, instead of interacting with someone, I find myself scrolling through Facebook out of habit. There is an anxiety feeling that leads me to check it constantly.

While technology has proven to be an amazing communication tool, which is also very important in my life, too much it loses its initial purpose. We must examine the way we use technology that it doesn’t interfere with the way we communicate to people near us and also it doesn’t take over our life.

References:

Nomadic Matt. (2017). Travel tip: Put away your damn phone! Retrieved March 26, 2017, http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/travel-phone/

The Wall Street Journal. (2015). Is technology making people less sociable? Retrieved March 26, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-technology-making-people-less-sociable-1431093491

Tweeting Exercise

The layoffs at the National Widget Company

1. National Widget Company lays off 200 employees across Canada, 50 of which are from the Victoria, BC branch

2. Lay off is caused by recent event in Uzbekistan dropping the prices of crude oil, which resulted an oversupply of widgets all around the world. The human resource firm are helping those who were laid off and counselling is available for the remaining employee.

3. The company announcing for a re-hiring will occur once conditions improves and over-supply is used up. We shall wait for further notice in the next few months.

The rehiring at the National Widget Company           

1. The National Widget Company is re-hiring all 200 employees that were laid off last June 2016

2. New widget market found in China and is partnering with the National Widget Company.

3. Widgets need to be installed in many buildings in China. Laid off employees must expect a call within a few weeks.

An expansion at the National Widget Company

1. National Widget Company is expanding as the partnership in the Chinese market is in great success

2. National Widget Company is adding new manufacturing facilities in Regina and Saskatchewan

3. National Widget Company has 2000 employees, now with an additional 100 added for the expansion

Interview with Jason Motz

“Read wisely and wildly,” is the first advice that Jason Motz had to say during a phone interview.

Jason Motz is known as a freelance writer; but what’s interesting about Motz is how he encourages aspiring writers today, from his own skills and experiences.

Just like many young adults, Motz didn’t know what he wanted to do as he referred himself as a “late bloomer”. After an unsuccessful experience in his retail job, he decided to go back to school at the age of 29. Not until in his early 30s did he realize his passion for writing.

To be a freelance writer, Motz emphasizes on how to “hustle and juggle”. People are accustomed to be told what to do – as a freelance writer that is not the case. Freelance writers are not told what to do, when to do them, or when to take breaks. They make their own work order and must juggle their own life. Motz mentions, however, it is hard to “get bored” as a freelance writer. You will meet new people and you will receive interesting stories.

Hustling and Juggling are skills that a good writer must have. In addition to that, reading, accountability, and paying attention to little details, such as deadlines, are critical skills to have as well.

Motz reminds us that, as a writer there are always downtimes and there won’t be a lot of sympathy; however, we shouldn’t doubt our desires. We must think, “This is what I’m doing and this is what I wanted to do.”

Time all to yourself

As soon as we wake up, we get sucked up by the business and craziness of our day. Cait shares her story of slowing down her life by taking her time in the morning and enjoy it with things she likes to do. http://caitflanders.com/2017/02/03/how-slow-mornings-changed-my-life/

Disconnected with our surroundings

We are losing valuable time of talking to the people beside us; or even just enjoying the moment of the place we are traveling to, all because of the technology we use that hinders us from doing so.http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/travel-phone/

Chinese New Year

Tricia finds beautiful, crafted Chinese New Year decoration in streets of Lee Tung, Hong Kong, as she travels with her husband for their mini-honeymoon. She show cases her t-shirt and earrings that were sponsored to her. http://triciagosingtian.com/blog/mango-cny/