Face to face, by Maria Fernández Vidal

I recognize it, I belong to a generation – the millennials they call us – we prefer to send a WhatsApp message or a voice note rather than make a call. Easier, faster, less risky. We are digital natives and the use of technology is part of our DNA. We are self-sufficient and self-taught. Blessed technology, which, during the pandemic, allowed us to continue communicating with those we could not see in person, which made teleworking easier for us, which allowed us to remain connected to the outside world from home.

But despite belonging to this so-called generation Y, I am aware that face to face is always better. Direct communication between people, without technological interference, always wins over the rest of the options, which, yes, are perfectly valid and useful in many contexts. But the reality is that we tend to get drunk on technology for everything. To play sports, to drive a car, to cook… And maybe we should do a little detox wherever possible. A good example is what will happen tomorrow, when FC Barcelona has convened its supreme governing body, which, according to the statutes, is the ordinary general assembly of members.

Technology will reduce the essence of the assembly itself to a minimum

The dictionary says that an assembly is a group of people gathered to deliberate, legislate and reach agreements. But tomorrow, there will be rather few people gathered, although the call is for 4,331 delegates. Technology will displace face-to-face and reduce the essence of the assembly itself to a minimum. Telematic assembly. Quite an oxymoron. Surely technology makes it easier for some delegates to participate in the assembly who, if it were not done electronically, would not be able to do so. This is the reason for technology, to make life easier. Not star in it. Don’t monopolize it.

The protagonists are the delegate members and also the members of the board who have to stand in front of the audience and, looking at their faces, give the appropriate explanations as if they were addressing the entire social mass. And then, they have to listen to and answer the questions of these delegates who, once a year, have the right recognized by the statutes to give their opinion. Also looking face to face at the board. No technological interference beyond a handheld microphone.

That said, and as a suggestion made in generation millennial perhaps it would be interesting to review some statutory aspects of the club that have been updated little or nothing in the 125 years of life that FC Barcelona is about to make. Whether the approval or not of the accounts of an entity of the gigantic size of Barça, with more than 110,000 members, ends up being in the power of just over half a thousand delegates, who are the ones who actually end up voting, is, at the very least, worthy of review.