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I love people, I always have. My mom taught me to accept people as they are, find humor in their idiosyncrasies and not to judge before looking in the mirror at myself. She reminded me we’re all human and have our assets and faults. Thankfully, I’ve spent the majority of my life working with people — selling to people, connecting people or just plain bouncing off human beings. In retrospect, I loved every minute of it. Today, the amazing asset of the internet has dramatically changed our human interaction. Does anyone remember when we used to call home for a ride and the phone was busy so you waited until you could reach someone? Or when you wanted to place a call, but didn’t have a dime for the payphone? How about being in your car with zero access until you returned to the office to find a stack of calls to return, all detailed on paper slips? Do you remember having three TV channels and being forced to watch whatever was on those channels just to get a minor measure of entertainment? How about when you used to run to the record shop, buy your new favorite vinyl 45 record and race home to play it on the stereo? Keeping track of meetings and events back then was done by carrying the ever-present “date book” everywhere you went. It sure makes you wonder how we existed, given the immediate access we now have at our fingertips today. It’s amazing. The internet browser was invented in 1990, and within five years there were 16 million people with internet access. One decade later, the amount of users surpassed 1 billion. Currently, more than 50 percent of the global population — that’s 4 billion people — have access to the internet. Everyone from business leaders to rural farmers all have access that would have been unimaginable 10 years ago. Today our phones can do so many miraculous things. We can look up info. in seconds, record our schedules to remind us of important meetings and track how far we’ve walked and calories burned in any given day. If you want to know the weather, it is right there on your phone hour by hour. And my favorite: catching up on news, ball scores and the latest local or international scoop — all from a device in my hand. It’s exhilarating to say the least. The internet’s impact on business is equally astounding. I know of businesses that were on the brink of failure only to be revived by internet sales. It’s now the norm to sell products worldwide and reach customers who were not accessible before. Many companies use the internet to promote their businesses and boost sales dramatically in creative ways never before imagined. However, for all of the incredible benefits of the internet, there are issues that concern me. The fact is human interaction is becoming less necessary. We can buy products and ship them in short order without leaving our homes. It’s an amazing luxury, but I’m concerned about the impact on our hugely important Main Street retail community. I worry for our restaurant owners, who create incredible ambiance in our communities and employ so many. With more and more ordering online, will we lose a portion of this great asset? One of our greatest opportunities to interact with other people is at the grocery store. Again, groceries can be ordered online and delivered without setting foot in the store. I don’t want to sound like some old-school, resistant-to-change guy. There is no doubt the internet is a huge asset. I just don’t want to lose our “people culture.” I want to walk into a crowded restaurant and hear the loud chatter of people talking. I want to show up to a packed town hall meeting and see people actively challenging ideas and positions of government. I want to continue to see chamber meetings packed with people celebrating our growing community and honoring those who make it happen. Yes, the internet is great. But the inventors are even greater. You see, in the end it’s about the people. People make this world go round and I hope they always will. So enjoy your phone and all of its tremendous benefits. But I suggest you occasionally try to lessen its importance and spend more time with people. It’ll make for a hugely interesting — sometimes challenging — but most of all a wonderful, ever-evolving, exhilarating life. Tony Iannelli is president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at tonyi@lehighvalleychamber.org. Copyright © 2018, Lehigh Valley Business Cycle For the original article click here: http://http//www.mcall.com/business/economy/mc-biz-iannelli-human-interaction-20180717-story.html