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“I’m going to go offline!” – Really?
Recently, a fascinating article with the title “stop pretending there’s a difference between” online “and” real life “has fallen into my hands, which has made me very thoughtful.
The author points to the fact that almost every aspect of our lives has an online component, whether we like it or not. That “go offline” is simply not a realistic option, that the online world and the real world have long since become one.
Not only do we use privately and professionally social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Xing, LinkedIn & Co for networking, to receive news, share photos such as impressions of my Costa Rica trip, to send pictures of fine hikes as I have done today – e.g. from my mountain hike – (photos below), etc
We also use contactless payment for our purchases, borrow city bikes, order taxis on corresponding apps or trains, download our boarding cards on our smartphones and find some of our partners online (well, I didn’t! This was still very “traditional” :-)).
Since the beginning of the World Wide Web, there have always been cases of Cyber-attacks and criminal access to computer systems – at that time, as it is often the case today – largely unknown to the public, because they are very abstract and always somehow distant. But it also has caught me a few years ago. I had previously submitted my brand / trademark to the Austrian Patent Office and paid for everything. Approx. 1/2 year later I received again a payment request by post. Since I was at this time almost only on the transit, I no longer checked the whole thing, especially since the letter looked so real, with the logo of the Austrian Patent Office and all the trimmings. So, I transferred the amount. I should not have done that, since there had been a scam on the net, as I learned a few months later from the police. Since then, I have been very careful and can only advise you to be.
Thus, the dangers that the online world brings with them are now closer to us: with teenagers, who mutually mutate into the self-murder cyber-mobbing, regular “Shitstorms” against people who make their opinions online, or presidential campaigns that are carried out via social media, Fake News, etc.
A few years ago, San Francisco was able to use public transportation free of charge for thanksgiving, as a hacker attack had paralysed the entire bus chip card system.
But now it is really astonishing … just discovered in an Austrian Newspaper! Is that really true? An 8-year-old learns to drive on YouTube and drives his parent’s car to Mac Donalds!
And last but not the least, we now have Donald Trump. A US president who, like no one else, plays, deceives and wins with the opportunities the digital world has to offer.
Is it still possible to ignore the influence of the online world on our daily life? Is it realistic in the long term to refuse smartphones, to ignore social networks, sometimes go “offline” for the duration of the next vacation?
For example, I can personally refuse Facebook. But professionally? Do I miss the connection if I decide against a Facebook appearance?
I recently took another step in the online direction with a new offer, the live online training series on moderation. And I already carried out 4 modules of a train-the-trainer 1 seminar for the NCP-Academy. Well, it was totally different than my onsite-trainings. I will report on these experiences in the next MindFood article.
For the next few weeks I have planned the production of videos.
And now I’m sitting here and writing my MindFood blog article and publish it as quickly as possible – even if it is Saturday within a long weekend – so that I can really be offline to slow down. And – by the way – we have already talked about that in one of the MindFood articles: “The praise of idleness”
Personally, I found the article quite sobering. But also quite true.
However I still believe that there can be a balance between “move with the times” to take advantage of the benefits of digitisation, and – at the same time – also seeing things critically, to ask questions, to educate our children and to protect them as much as possible, again to call friends, rather than sending a WhatsApp message or a Facebook like.
To go out on the weekend, to see the blue sky, to inhale nature, to breathe deeply and to be simply “offline” for a very marvelous short moment, in the sense of “the praise of doing nothing“.
I wish you a wonderful spring and weekend!
All the best,
Birgit
PS: Read the full article here! How do YOU implement offline? I am looking forward to your experience and your opinion!
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