How Cool Technology is an Ice Breaker

I am naturally more introverted than not. I have decided to act extroverted when I am out (of course knowing me, this only applies if it does not take me more time). I think it is good for stretching my comfort zone. I think it is good for making people feel comfortable. Interesting to experiment. Could even follow from my "Never Eat Alone" post.

In some sense we live in a strange world when we expect no one to talk in elevators or in many public areas. We tend to talk to those we have affinity towards.

I have noticed that there are certain things that naturally lead to conversation and are almost ice breakers. Many of these are technology products. People seem to be attracted and open up to people when they see the new Apple notebooks with the cool kick out power cords and even the built in cameras and infra-red adds to its cool impact.

I was one of the first users of the Blacberry 8700 and that certainly attracted a lot of conversation. Even my Bluetooth headset at one point attracted conversation. The iPod used to and the iPod Nano does sometimes.

I have often found that there is a comaradery on the road with myself and other Prius owners. We all tend to wave at each other. I was recently in California and I was thinking the people there were not as friendly as the people in Canada because none of the Prius owners were waving until I remembered that I had not rented a Prius.

If all else fails and you can’t get anyone to talk to you even if you have cool technology, I suggest that you get a dog or a baby. Time management alert though.

My daughter, Laura, emailed me an article on why I get funny characters when I cut and paste from Word to my blog. So now you know.

Yesterday I complained that CEO blog searches put me on the second page of Google. Now I like Yahoo better, they put me on first page.