The Tip Factor

As a digital immigrant, I am as guilty as anyone of being hooked into technology for far too many hours. I think most of us suffer from tech-overload nowadays. We've got our hands on the keyboard, eyes on the screen and earbuds snuggled firmly in our ears. However, as digital immigrants we were afforded the opportunity to develop our interpersonal communication skills and written communciation skills prior to the technology invasion.

The same cannot be said for our students--the digital natives.

Today's high school student was born and raised in a digital landscape and as a result their  communicaiton skills have been somewhat neglected. It's not a criticism, it's merely a by-product of the world that they have grown up in.

How often have you been speaking with your student and they're not looking at you but checking their phone, or simply not looking at you?

However, it's not just the interpersonal communication skills that have taken a hit, their written communication has been equally effected by the day-to-day use of techno-communcation.

For example, does your student's email address make you cringe? Do they write a formal email using text language?

I've been speaking in high schools accross the country for ten years and in almost every class I go to, I ask students if they've ever received a letter, an honest-to-God, hand- written letter. Not a card from Grandma with twenty bucks shoved in it, but an actual letter. Ten years ago half the students in class would raise their hand but today in a class of thirty students, only two or three hands go up.

Amazing.

It's not all discouraging news. Our young people process information faster than we do, can switch gears on a dime and are ready for just about anything. They are an extremely adaptable generation and this means that they can learn easily. This is very, very good news.

If you're interested in getting your digital native some back to basics communication skills, I hope you'll give us a call and check out our interactive workshops.

Technology may be here to stay and embeded in our daily existence but no matter how much technology we have, we will never eliminate the human factor.

The Tip Factor is the way many college admission counselors refer to the all-important college interview. When a student goes in for a face-to-face meeting with the counselor it allows them to become a human being and not just one application amid thousands. When a student meets with an admissions counselor and has a fantastic interview, it can help tip them into the "yes pile".

However, for many of our digital natives a face-to-face interview is a daunting task simply because they don't have the necessary skills to help them navigate those waters.

So here's the question....How do the digital natives in your life handle face-to-face interactions? Do they have The Tip Factor?