Beware of Digital Silo's

Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy has been our Surgeon General twice. He is just concluded his service as Surgeon General in 2024, and he closed his service with a powerfully written “prescription for America.” Take the time to read it, he nailed it. His message for his time in service has been one of an invitation to a healthier and happier life for Americans. His prescription really addresses what he feels are root causes of unhappiness and the core of what we can do to overcome these unhealthy roots.

In his first part of his prescription he talks about the power of community and what it does for people. How a village helped his grandfather, when his grandma died. Vivek’s father was ten, and the village stepped in to help raise him and his five siblings. He summarizes this story by reminding us that community is a source of health and well-being.

         The quote I love is this thought from his father. “He observed that you could eat well, exercise, sleep eight hours a night, and have all the right vital signs, lab tests, and imaging studies. But without community, it was hard to feel whole.”

         Vivek then goes on to remind us that community is a source of life satisfaction and life expectancy. He then shares the core pillars that he believes drive fulfillment: relationship, service and purpose. 

One of the phrases Vivek coins in his prescription is “digital silo.” What is a digital silo? He defines it as a place where we are trapped with less and less face-to-face contact.  He calls it is one of the big reasons we have lost a sense of community. 

Vivek then goes on to call on Americans everywhere to restore a sense of community. We need the core pillars in our lives. We need to restore them he states. 

In my studies I am reminded that three of the greatest ways to form connection or community are empathy, smiling, and eye contact. What if we never see people face to face. What if we are never able to look people in the eye and smile at them. Screens are limiting our face-to-face interactions and our eye-to-eye contact.

An average adult in a face-to-face conversation makes eye-contact between 30-60 percent of the time. Quantified Impressions a Texas-based communications analytics company says emotional connection is built when eye contact is made during 60-70 percent of the conversation. Thus, more eye contact, more connection. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-youre-not-making-eye_n_4002494).

In a recent survey 62% of teachers and administrators felt that student’s ability to make and maintain eye contact has gotten worse in the last ten years and 25% even said “much worse.” 

A great deal of research suggests that we are getting less and less face time with one another, and thus less and less eye contact, and thus less and less connection.

Digital silos are taking away from life’s greatest experiences: community and connection. This post is an invitation to “see again” with more face-to-face interactions through taking your eyes off constant “digital distractions” and looking into the eyes of others who you enjoy and love.