As busy as people are, I’m sensing that they are becoming aware of the impact it is having on relationships. People are opting to say ‘no’ rather than commit to yet another obligation. This could be spending time with family, another volunteer project, coaching a  team, or taking on another project at work.

Taking in the full picture, people are choosing to make conscious decisions about how to use their time more effectively. As a result, people are slowing down to a pace that is manageable for them. This is a deceleration.

I believe that during this period of slowing down, people will part with relationships, structures, or technology that were applying pressure on them. Things that we don’t need will be left behind or tossed aside because we no longer need them. This is all to make our lives more sensible and manageable. It will add more value.

However, the pace at which we are being connected, primarily through technology, is increasing. Is our heightened awareness of what’s happening around us, enabled by technology, making us realize that we perhaps don’t need to move as fast and contributing to this deceleration? The world was hit with a wave of technological developments over the last decade that did make people more connected, but it has also had the effect of keeping people apart. Particularly those physically closest to us.

People have hit the saturation point and are dictating to the technology how and when they are going to use it or interact with it. The technology won’t get any simpler, but maybe how we use it will.