Before we had the Internet, the closest form of written communication we had were handwritten letters posted to family, friends and pen pals. Then there are the regular phone calls, family reunion meet-ups, parties, events etc.

As a whole, these offline social interactions had more depth than what we are experiencing online today because we could at least hear the tone of voice through phone calls or read the body language and facial expression of the new person we have just met at the party.



(Image Source: Hubspot)

Changing Times
Nowadays we prefer using emails, instant messaging (IM) and social networking sites. Make no mistake, I’m not denouncing these innovations that came about with the Internet. They are revolutionary tools that allow us to connect like never before.



(Image Source: Fotolia)

It’s hard to believe that we are now able to make contact with a stranger from the other side of the world in a matter of seconds. Work processes and collaborations can never be easier or smoother without the existence of these networks.

Benefits aside though, it seems that the unprecedented accessibility that has been granted to us may have now resulted in our overdependence to using the online amenities to carry out our social biddings.

Complement Vs. Replacement
It seems that there are two types of people; one who complement their offline social life with their online one, and the rest who pretty much replace their offline social life with the online one. You’d probably guess that it’s healthier to be the former than the latter, since most of us would say that social interaction should not only consist of what is being said, but also how it is being said.

Emoting With Icons
To make up for the lack of visual cues from text-based conversations, emoticons eventually came to be. Even then, we all know emoticons are simply not enough sometimes! There is far too wide a variety of emotions to capsulate them into emoticons like :) or :(.

The tone of voice we hear over the phone is a much better indicator of emotions than these two-dimensional visual cues. When dealing with face-to-face interactions, there’s the entire package of body language, facial expression and voice to take into consideration.

Offline social interactions can hardly replace online ones. But how do we complement the former with the latter?

Strengthening Our Offline Social Life Online
Although interacting with others offline gives us an experience that no other mediums could, an online social life also offers something which offline life does not. Social networking sites like Facebook offer users a window to a world of ideas, cultural differences and perspectives that we would otherwise not easily have access to in real-life.

We get to hear about the latest news (or gossips) faster than before, even real-time, as the events unfold. This information can translate to conversational topics when we interact with others offline, thereby deepening the exchange we have with them.

Going online with social networking sites and IMs also opens us to new friendships that could not be forged otherwise due to geographical and cultural barriers.

Recommended reading: 10 Ideas to Simplify Your Online Life

The Allure Of Socializing Online
One reason for the reliance on online social communications is that there’s simply little or no commitment to the relationships made online. We can simply strike an online conversation with anyone, any time and end the relationship there and then, without carrying expectations to contact each other again. We don’t actually have to fix a time and location to meet up with the other party.

The flexibility of being able to go online even during the wee hours of the night to socialize is definitely a draw for many of us who are often strapped for time. We can even be who we want to be – such convenience is a valuable gift to many people who don’t mind settling for such relatively superficial social interactions to satisfy their social needs.

Achieving Balance Between Both Worlds
However, the more time we spend socializing online, the less time we have to socialize offline. Also, once we settle into the comfort zone that is the online world, it will be harder for us to get out and interact with people in the real world.

The key is not to let online interactions replace interactions offline.

It’s easy to fall into such a trap when it’s so much more convenient to just keep in touch online. This is good practice so long as we stay mindful of the pitfalls. One way to achieve a balance between having an offline social life, and an online one, is to use the former to know new friends and the latter to develop deep relationships.



(Image Source: gellyroll)

Designating a specific time where we’ll go online to socialize will also help. This will not only prevent us from aimlessly chatting or surfing on Facebook, it will also keep us disciplined enough to focus on the tasks at hand while we’re at the screen.

Extending our offline social network to online activities like chatting and social networking sites is also a good way to attain balance. In essence, we are maintaining existing offline relationships so that they remain strong or even grow stronger the next time we see them.

Conclusion
Above all, there’s a need to recognize that quality social interaction exists in the offline realm rather than when we’re online. The only way to see that is to actually spend offline time with friends instead of hiding behind a screen all the time.

Read also: Get Off The Internet: A Challenge to Disconnect

Once we dedicate some time each week to hang out with our buddies, we’ll begin to re-experience the bonds that we’ve been missing out. That’s when we’ll naturally inch towards a healthy balance between the two worlds and appreciate that our online social life need not be a liability, but a potential boon to our overall social life.

Get Off The Internet: A Challenge To Reconnect With Yourself
By Singyin Lee. Filed in Culture, Internet, People, Social Media, Web 2.0
Ads by Google
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What do you do most of the time you are online? Apart from reading hongkiat.com that is. Blogging, designing, emailing, gaming, pinning, reading, socializing, surfing, watching videos, writing reviews… take your pick. Even when we’re not in front of the personal computer or laptop, we may have a phone on one ear, and a tablet on the other arm.



Now, quickly, what do you do when you are not connected to the Internet? I hope it’s not a politically correct answer that you just made up on the spot. Most of us who make our living on the Web also use it for our leisurely activities, namely playing games, armchair-socializing and probably stalking exes, which as you can probably tell are not very healthy activities. Our tendency to favour gadgets, text and images over real life could well be the tip of the iceberg of problems to come.

In this article we will briefly touch on a few things that the Internet and our addiction to it is ruining for us – and why there exists an urgent need to disconnect from the Web to reconnect with humanity.

Read Also: 5 Ways "Tech Addiction" Is Changing Human Behaviour

Our Health
I was suffering through a short bout of ‘computer fatigue’ the other day – oh, it’s a real collection of symptoms, believe me, but I doubt it would be enough to get you off of work. You may have even experienced it yourself: the strain persists on the bridge of your nose, the area between the eyes; blurry vision, a metallic taste in your mouth, headaches and slight dizziness – all at a degree that doesn’t justify a run to the doctors but that still affects your productivity enough to make you sit up and take notice.

After spending on average 13 hours a day in front of the computer, I was craving to go back to working on print i.e. paper; at least until I feel better. A torturous week later, I found the cure: a 12-hour long-awaited sleep marathon. All the symptoms I had been having disappeared the next morning. Part of the benefits of having a boss who understands freelancing, is that they let inadequacies like this slide. But I believe a plea to take better care of your health is justifiable seeing how easy and relevant it is for this section to be describing you as it was, me.

Family And Friends
Never mix business with pleasure, they say. I wonder where you slot ‘family’ into this equation. Even when working in a 9-to-5 setting, most of us are finding less and less time to spend with our spouses and children. Things get worse when you start hanging around on the Web. The more we are connected to the Internet, be it to reply emails, read blogs, surf social networking sites, or tend to our hobbies via PC, mobile or tablet, the less time we have for the people around us.



Despite having hundreds (or even thousands) of friends on Facebook, how many of them do you normally go out for drinks with? And even when you do, how much face-to-face time do you give each other? Chances are, upon sitting down and making your order, you would both whip out your smartphones and start swiping through your daily tabs, news, tweets and messages before finding something to talk about with your drinking buddy. Chances are, you spend more time communicating through your friends on your phone than with your friends who are physically right in front of you. In short, the faster you connect to a nearby Wi-Fi connection, the faster you disconnect from the physical world.

Creativity
"There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns." – Edward de Bono.

When you think about it, you need ideas to make advancements and innovations. From these technological advancements, we progress as a society. Thus, it is crucial to make sure that the ideas keep coming, and for that we need creativity. Creative ideas are original – sometimes a spin-off of something that is already in existence, other times ground-breaking on its own, take for instance, quantum physics, the power of flight, electricity, and in a more modern context, the tablet. It’s amazing what the human mind can do… as long as it can stop resorting to copying ideas and start thinking on its own.

Originality Vs Sharing
With our inclination to ‘share’ things – apparently because we care – there isn’t a need, a push or any form of motivation to write, compose, design or come up with original ideas anymore. Why change something that works, right? Today we see students and academicians rely heavily on Wikipedia to do research, blogs copying and feeding off other blogs, memes and rage comics rehashing old jokes that have been around since the birth of the Internet and Youtube filled with song covers by eager (yet still very talented) youngsters.

If you don’t think this ‘sharing is caring’ nature is serious enough to be worth your time, get this: not only was 2012 hailed as the year of the sequel, there are (more than) 95 movie sequels in the works and at least 50 movies that are going to be given a remake. And that is just the movie industry. We see the same problem in music (covers and mash-ups) and books (see originality of Hunger Games). This begs the question: are we running out of new ideas? If we are, this and the fact that Credit seems to mean nothing on the Web may prove Edward de Bono’s quote true.

Unplugging From The Web
Technology is a very alluring mistress. It gives you what you want, when you want it and without even putting up a fight. Nowadays, you may feel that it can be tough to go a day without your mobile phone, checking for RTs, shooting your rivals or posting a picture of your latest meal. But as we get to the weekends, there really should be a time for us to unplug from the virtual world and get back in touch with our physical self as well as with the people around us and the environment.



Pen something without the need for people to comment or give you feedback on it; learn to play a new musical instrument or just grab a book from the shelf before reading up a review about it first. Go on a road trip with your girlfriend, or kids or your mom, or invite your college buddies to go camping, fishing or abseiling with you. Be adventurous and try doing something for yourself that does not involve signing up or logging into a site. Leave your electronics behind or if you can’t get out of the house long enough for a trip, disable your Wi-Fi and reconnect with yourself via meditation, a bubble bath or just by whipping up a nice salad for yourself.

Conclusion
We’re social beings and despite having social networks to do our social biddings for us, you know that sometimes sharing a cuppa with a friend while you hide away from the pitter-patter of the rain in a café with a nice ambience and good music can be a more rewarding experience than you ever thought it could be. And if there is one thing that people can offer you, which technology can’t, is emotional and moral support, and the motivation to continue striving. And there’s nothing tech can do about that.


Get Off The Internet: A Challenge To Reconnect With Yourself
By Singyin Lee. Filed in Culture, Internet, People, Social Media, Web 2.0
Ads by Google
Web Hosting @ $0.01www.hostgator.com/1Penny
Scalable, Secure Web Hosting. Try Our Award-Winning Service Now!
What do you do most of the time you are online? Apart from reading hongkiat.com that is. Blogging, designing, emailing, gaming, pinning, reading, socializing, surfing, watching videos, writing reviews… take your pick. Even when we’re not in front of the personal computer or laptop, we may have a phone on one ear, and a tablet on the other arm.



Now, quickly, what do you do when you are not connected to the Internet? I hope it’s not a politically correct answer that you just made up on the spot. Most of us who make our living on the Web also use it for our leisurely activities, namely playing games, armchair-socializing and probably stalking exes, which as you can probably tell are not very healthy activities. Our tendency to favour gadgets, text and images over real life could well be the tip of the iceberg of problems to come.

In this article we will briefly touch on a few things that the Internet and our addiction to it is ruining for us – and why there exists an urgent need to disconnect from the Web to reconnect with humanity.

Read Also: 5 Ways "Tech Addiction" Is Changing Human Behaviour

Our Health
I was suffering through a short bout of ‘computer fatigue’ the other day – oh, it’s a real collection of symptoms, believe me, but I doubt it would be enough to get you off of work. You may have even experienced it yourself: the strain persists on the bridge of your nose, the area between the eyes; blurry vision, a metallic taste in your mouth, headaches and slight dizziness – all at a degree that doesn’t justify a run to the doctors but that still affects your productivity enough to make you sit up and take notice.

After spending on average 13 hours a day in front of the computer, I was craving to go back to working on print i.e. paper; at least until I feel better. A torturous week later, I found the cure: a 12-hour long-awaited sleep marathon. All the symptoms I had been having disappeared the next morning. Part of the benefits of having a boss who understands freelancing, is that they let inadequacies like this slide. But I believe a plea to take better care of your health is justifiable seeing how easy and relevant it is for this section to be describing you as it was, me.

Family And Friends
Never mix business with pleasure, they say. I wonder where you slot ‘family’ into this equation. Even when working in a 9-to-5 setting, most of us are finding less and less time to spend with our spouses and children. Things get worse when you start hanging around on the Web. The more we are connected to the Internet, be it to reply emails, read blogs, surf social networking sites, or tend to our hobbies via PC, mobile or tablet, the less time we have for the people around us.



Despite having hundreds (or even thousands) of friends on Facebook, how many of them do you normally go out for drinks with? And even when you do, how much face-to-face time do you give each other? Chances are, upon sitting down and making your order, you would both whip out your smartphones and start swiping through your daily tabs, news, tweets and messages before finding something to talk about with your drinking buddy. Chances are, you spend more time communicating through your friends on your phone than with your friends who are physically right in front of you. In short, the faster you connect to a nearby Wi-Fi connection, the faster you disconnect from the physical world.

Creativity
"There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns." – Edward de Bono.

When you think about it, you need ideas to make advancements and innovations. From these technological advancements, we progress as a society. Thus, it is crucial to make sure that the ideas keep coming, and for that we need creativity. Creative ideas are original – sometimes a spin-off of something that is already in existence, other times ground-breaking on its own, take for instance, quantum physics, the power of flight, electricity, and in a more modern context, the tablet. It’s amazing what the human mind can do… as long as it can stop resorting to copying ideas and start thinking on its own.

Originality Vs Sharing
With our inclination to ‘share’ things – apparently because we care – there isn’t a need, a push or any form of motivation to write, compose, design or come up with original ideas anymore. Why change something that works, right? Today we see students and academicians rely heavily on Wikipedia to do research, blogs copying and feeding off other blogs, memes and rage comics rehashing old jokes that have been around since the birth of the Internet and Youtube filled with song covers by eager (yet still very talented) youngsters.

If you don’t think this ‘sharing is caring’ nature is serious enough to be worth your time, get this: not only was 2012 hailed as the year of the sequel, there are (more than) 95 movie sequels in the works and at least 50 movies that are going to be given a remake. And that is just the movie industry. We see the same problem in music (covers and mash-ups) and books (see originality of Hunger Games). This begs the question: are we running out of new ideas? If we are, this and the fact that Credit seems to mean nothing on the Web may prove Edward de Bono’s quote true.

Unplugging From The Web
Technology is a very alluring mistress. It gives you what you want, when you want it and without even putting up a fight. Nowadays, you may feel that it can be tough to go a day without your mobile phone, checking for RTs, shooting your rivals or posting a picture of your latest meal. But as we get to the weekends, there really should be a time for us to unplug from the virtual world and get back in touch with our physical self as well as with the people around us and the environment.



Pen something without the need for people to comment or give you feedback on it; learn to play a new musical instrument or just grab a book from the shelf before reading up a review about it first. Go on a road trip with your girlfriend, or kids or your mom, or invite your college buddies to go camping, fishing or abseiling with you. Be adventurous and try doing something for yourself that does not involve signing up or logging into a site. Leave your electronics behind or if you can’t get out of the house long enough for a trip, disable your Wi-Fi and reconnect with yourself via meditation, a bubble bath or just by whipping up a nice salad for yourself.

Conclusion
We’re social beings and despite having social networks to do our social biddings for us, you know that sometimes sharing a cuppa with a friend while you hide away from the pitter-patter of the rain in a café with a nice ambience and good music can be a more rewarding experience than you ever thought it could be. And if there is one thing that people can offer you, which technology can’t, is emotional and moral support, and the motivation to continue striving. And there’s nothing tech can do about that.