Back to life, back to reality

So the long holiday break is over. Time to get back to the grind and settle into our usual routines.

Or not.

Chances are you did some cool shit over the break. Maybe you hit the beach. Or the slopes. Or perhaps you just spent some quality time at home, getting reacquainted with your couch.

Whatever floats your boat. The point is, you did stuff you don’t normally get to do. You got out of your regular habits. And you may have even (God forbid) spent a little less time in the digital world and more time in the real world. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the Internet. I love social media. I’d be lost without either. But there needs to be a balance. The internet should be a tool to help make your life better, it shouldn’t actually be your life. Going on eBay to find a new pair of skis is great. Spending ten hours a day on eBay trying to win every auction you can find—not so good. Using Facebook to connect with friends, family and work colleagues is awesome. Spending hours on Facebook creating a simulated personality for games that simulate reality is a bit ridiculous.

So for those of us who spend most of our workday in front of computer, let’s not be so quick to jump back into our usual routine. Let’s have lunch with coworkers. Let’s meet up with an old friend for drinks. Let’s go see a movie. 

The beauty of doing more in the real world is that it will actually make us more capable of creating fascinating content for the virtual world. Let’s face it, the Internet is largely filled with people trying to mimic today what they saw on the Internet yesterday. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone actually created something original, based on a genuine real-life moment? 

You remember real-life moments, don’t you? They’re those things you capture on your iPhone camera every weekend.