Conectar en tiempos desconectados | Carla Tejerina | TEDxUPDS Tarija

Quick Overview

Carla Tejerina advocates for finding a personal purpose, emphasizing that even in times of hyper-connection, people often feel disconnected, leading her to create a project focused on fostering genuine connections and dialogue among young entrepreneurs and professionals.

Key Points: The presentation is titled "Conectar en tiempos desconectados" (Connecting in Disconnected Times) by Carla Tejerina at TEDxUPDS Tarija. Tejerina shares a deeply personal story about almost dying at birth and being saved by her pediatrician father, highlighting the impact of family and foundational experiences. She contrasts her youth, where family lunches were important, with the current era of digital hyper-connection, which often leads to emotional disconnection. Her professional background includes being an investigative journalist and writer, noting her brothers are a doctor and a lawyer, while her mother is a writer. She initiated a project that gathered 10-12 young entrepreneurs and professionals (ages 25-35) from cities like La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz for face-to-face conversations. The goal of this project was to counteract digital isolation by encouraging people to look each other in the eyes, touch, and speak openly, rather than relying on digital profiles. The core message revolves around the necessity of genuine, present human connection to find purpose, contrasting it with superficial digital interactions.

Context: Carla Tejerina delivered this TEDx talk at TEDxUPDS Tarija, focusing on the paradoxical disconnect experienced in the age of digital hyper-connectivity. She grounds her argument in personal history, referencing her family—a pediatrician father who saved her life, two doctor/lawyer brothers, and a writer mother—and the value of intimate, analog interactions like Sunday family lunches, setting the stage for her central theme: the search for purpose through authentic human connection.

Detailed Analysis

Carla Tejerina delivers a personal narrative urging the audience to prioritize genuine human connection over digital saturation to find their purpose. She opens by recounting a near-death experience at birth, saved by her father, a pediatrician, which underscores the value of presence and care. She notes that her upbringing, characterized by family unity (including two brothers who became a doctor and a lawyer, and a writer mother), contrasted sharply with today's world where digital hyper-connection often breeds emotional isolation. Tejerina describes launching a project where she gathered young entrepreneurs and professionals (ages 25-35) from major Bolivian cities (La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz) to engage in face-to-face dialogue. The purpose of these meetings was to force participants to look into each other's eyes, touch, and speak honestly, bypassing the superficiality of digital profiles and social media representations. She concludes that true connection, the kind that involves vulnerability and presence, is essential for discovering one's purpose, urging the audience to move beyond the comfortable isolation of digital screens.