The Internet is Crashing, Permanently
What if the Internet crashes? And I don’t just mean for a day or two. What if for some bizarre reason, the Internet one day just doesn’t exist.
Let me take a step back. This post was inspired by a conversation I had with Chris Brogan yesterday, so the original thought comes directly from him. But he asked a question that got me thinking deeper. What if Facebook just crashed one day? Would you be okay with that? Would you still be able to keep in touch with the friends/clients you have made?
And so my mind started turning and the topic got more and more exciting for me. Just think about it. I remember when not TOO long ago :0) I was only allowed to carry a cell phone with me when I ventured the two hours it took to get to my softball travel team practice. Now, I can’t leave home without it-I don’t even have a landline!
Dave Delaney from Two Boobs and a Baby + recorded a video about how he felt when twitter went down for maintenance. At the Podcast and New Media Expo-I went a whole day without being able to get on the internet from my computer, but I was okay because I had the web on my phone/pda.
We are so dependent on the Internet for connections, are we ignoring vital face to face connections that can also help our company, home and lifestyle?
I belong to several networking groups in my local community and I remember at one lunch the director said “I want to make sure you develop deep relationships with the people of this community such that if we close our doors tomorrow and never have another event again, you have no problem continuing those relationships without us.”
So what if the Internet crashed? Where are all your relationships? Are you speaking to all of your customers through one medium? If the Internet crashed would you still be able to talk with them?
What if we are talking about a single application like Facebook, or email-what if your customers stopped using an application-are you able to talk to them through another way? Are you everywhere you ought to be?
What about personally? Do you have people you can turn to right in your own neighborhood? Do you even know your neighbors? Not that I’m promoting solicitation in church, but do your fellow friends at church even know what you do? Why not?
How about the friends you know online. Do you have a way to get in touch with them? Do they know how to get in touch with you? Is it all simply Internet based or have you taken that online relationship and made it real through mail or through the phone? I’m not saying to broadcast your phone number out to everyone, but those you really are connecting with, what are you doing to make sure there is an ongoing dialogue no matter what.
Are you mixing the medium and/or crossing platforms?
Posted in Friends, New Media, Technology in Everyday Life, conversations, relationships, social networking |9 Comments so far
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You, my dear, know JUST the right questions to ask at just the right times.
Why is it so easy to make relationships online? It’s easy for me because I have the time to connect with people on my own schedule. It’s hard for our neighbors to all get together because we all have different free time. So staying connected with someone online is not hampered as much by time, it’s easy to write a quick note or post a video and you stay connected. The other reason why I can make relationships on line is because it’s not as unnerving. It’s a little scary meeting new people. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself etc… So I think that if we could breakdown how we connect on line and apply some of the principles to real life we might be better at making new friends face to face… Ok this comment went all over but there you go I only had 3 min to put it down.
Robert Putnam dealt with this issue in his book “Bowling Alone”. Even before the rise of the Internet, people were increasingly isolating themselves - in “communities” but not “in community.” I’ve tried to “meet up” with online friends, but that involes risk and being vulnerable - which are the very things that some people use the Net to hide from.
I wholeheartedly agree with you - get out and get ‘real’. Share a cab ride, a cup of coffee or a sabbath and get to know people beyond the facades we create - both the avatars and the attitudes.
If the internet died, I’d have a boat-load of free time. It wouldn’t matter if I couldn’t contact my customers, because without the internet, I’d have no business… not online anyway…
I think we have avoided or even ditched, “real life” relationships in some ways because of the ease of internet relations… if I don’t like you on the internet, it’s not too hard to “un-friend” you, but if I screw up my relationship with a neighbor, what do I do, move? The internet has been the greatest invention for social slackers, it allows us to have great people we might never meet or relate to in real life, as “friends.”
I agree with Cammon that the internet has made it easier to make “friends” and I also agree with MaxWeb that it is easier to “un-friend” too.
Can our social skills in real life be hurt or helped by what we do online?
I was thinking about this while sitting in a cafe today with no wireless connection, a dead computer and a phone on its last pulse.
I’m a people watcher. I don’t mind starting arbitrary conversations. I wouldn’t miss the social aspects of a dead internet nearly as much as I’d miss the information availability.
How many web friends would I keep up with in real life? It feels like college — I’d like to say “a lot,” but I really mean, “a few - those in my geographic area and those I’ve formed a DEEP connection with”… and those are fewer than any of us realize.
Thanks for the link to my little movie. I believe the web has made it easier to communicate, network and make friends. Like I posted on my blog though, it’s really about meeting in the flesh that solidifies things.
It’s shaking a hand, hugging and simply chatting in person that makes these relationships real.
That’s why conferences like PNME (or NME) are so important.
Great meeting you in the flesh too my friend. See you soon.
Thanks to Justin and Dave for the comments. Its true Justin how many times have we run into someone from our past and say- “we really have to get together, I’m serious!” And then never do. Cammon does have a good point that if a neighbor isn’t home it is harder to interact, where on the internet we can shoot an email or video-but why not leave a note on the door-isn’t that the same thing?
I love Dave’s movie because it does show the dependence we have on the online world-but it is the hugging and chatting in personal that means so much more.
[…] doesn’t matter what others are doing, I need to worry about myself. Thinking about my post “the Internet is Crashing: Permanently”, what am I personally doing to make sure I am flexible if either something horrible goes wrong, […]