IRL relationships tech addiction

Do Not Neglect Your In Real Life (IRL) Relationships

 

Sitting comfortably in our chairs staring at our screens is not hard to do.

Going along with our feelings of tiredness, not being bothered and “chillaxing” is easy when you can keep up with your communication using a keyboard and touchscreen.

It’s easy to stay in contact through mediated communication.

When I started to chat back in 2000, (yes it was a novelty back then!),  not many of us were daily video chatting.

You needed a good quality webcam and internet connection to properly see each other during the entire conversation.

Nowadays we video chat constantly on our devices.

This is a huge plus point and I’m grateful that this is all possible.

The flip side is that we may tend to neglect meeting up in the real world.

We are constantly stimulated which makes us (feel) “busy” all the time.

Being constantly faced with temptation and stimulation is exhausting and overwhelming.

No wonder we are mentally tired.

This is the reason why we should disconnect more from the Internet in order to connect more in the offline world.

We need to preserve our offline connections and quality time together.

If we “meet up” mostly online, then our social skills will erode.

We will feel more uncomfortable to meet people in the offline world.

Looking into someone’s eyes becomes more daunting and social cues are missed.

If you don’t regularly engage with people in the offline world, you may even misinterpret body language.

Don’t lose such skills. Use screens to maintain a connection and to prepare a meetup offline.

Not that you have to meet a friend every day, but make it a weekly or monthly routine to meet somewhere where you can actively listen and enjoy the person’s energy.

We people crave for connection.

When your friend or acquaintance is living abroad then yes I can imagine that you will be video calling.

But if you and your friend don’t live that far away, make the effort to meet.

Enjoying each other’s company while being on the same wavelength with the other person will transpire in great energy that can be truly felt when that person is sitting or standing in front of you.