This is a part of a trend we identified called “The End of Sunday.”
Here’s a quote we came across in our interviews that kicks off the discussion:
“I find it odd that people make such weird distinctions between online life and offline life, mine are completely blurred.”
-Liz McLellan, Founder and Moderator of Hyperlocavore
Voluntarily carrying a smart phone and frequenting Wi-fi hotspots means we are constantly accessible. But does blurring online and offline life mean it’s inevitable that we’ll all be Tweeting during dinner, texting duing the movie, or checking in everywhere as soon as you arrive?
In the old days, your computer was not always online, and you had to make a conscious decision to connect your computer to the Web. Now it’s always connected at home and at work, and everywhere in between if you always carry your smartphone with you. I’ve seen people miss their kid making a goal in soccer because they were checking their email.
But it’s not just in real life that this blurring takes place. I’ve seen evidence of it all over social media. I recently connected with a friend I’d known in childhood. She’s an entrepreneur, and from her descriptions of her business, I think it’s a multi-level marketing gig,aimed exclusively at women. Her posts that appear on my news feed on Facebook are all business. Join me for a seminar. Join our team. See how our products can help the environment, help you live forever, and help you keep the skin of a 25-year-old. Other friends have hidden her posts. I will probably take a different tack, and suggest she concentrate those posts on her company page (of which I am not a fan). With my luck she’ll do that, and then become start a pig operation on Farmville, polluting my news feeds in a more intrusive way.
So where do you stand? How have you noticed yourself blurring the distinctions between online and offline? What examples have you seen of other people doing the same thing?
Hey!
I’m not sure how I missed this! Interestingly though I said mine are blurred I do make a really strong line in my life. When I am with people -I am really WITH them. I don’t Like the phone and I don’t like to feel like I am on a tether. So I don’t really do the smart phone thing. Even when I was living in NYC – I didn’t carry one to dinner, well I had it – but it was only there for emergencies.
I really value face to face time and it really irks me when people split their attention between me and their gadget. I think it’s really rude actually.
So when I say it’s blurred, I mean I am online a lot and colleagues, mentors, friends and family are all part of my daily experience… but when I am with you – I am WITH YOU!
“D