Make it Personal

[Pam Horton]

Lunch with friends

I know I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating…

The Internet is not a replacement for interpersonal relationships!

World English Dictionary online says this: Interpersonal (adj) between persons; involving personal relationships.

Today I had lunch with a couple of friends, and we just chatted away the hours. We probably could have continued to chat, but the restaurant was closing, so we wrapped it up. When we were heading out I told them how much I had enjoyed our time together. One of them remarked, “Let’s do this more often than once a year!” Wow! Had it been that long since we had done lunch? Yes, it had. We had attended a couple of sporting events together, but we hadn’t taken the time to have a face-to-face in an entire year. Shame on us.

I had coffee with a friend the other day. Same sort of scenario, it had been months since we’d sat down over coffee and chatted. And we talked about all kinds of things. She even showed me a couple things on my new “strong-willed” smart phone. Of course we said the same thing, “Let’s do this more often.”

I am friends with these folks on Facebook. We have interactions via email. Still, those interactions, quick comments, likes, shares, ReTweets, etc. are NOTHING like a face-to-face chat. In both instances we shared things that we had not shared over the Internet.

I just did a quick search to see if I could pull up some statistics about Internet vs. interpersonal relationships. What came up was a lot of links for video conferencing.

I am all about video chats – I do that with my 4yr old granddaughter whenever possible. They are a close second to a true face to face chat, but they still don’t even come close. I can hug my computer all I want, but I will not feel my granddaughter’s arms around me until I hug her in person.

We become very comfortable sitting at home, in front of social media, thinking we have tons of “friends.” Make sure you are taking the time to form friendships with real, live, in person, people. It makes a world of difference in how you feel about them and about yourself.

So – when do you want to get together for coffee? Grin.

*Pam Horton is a Certified Life Coach in the Raleigh Durham area. Contact her at [e-mail].*

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[Pat Howlett]

Perfect reminder as we enter this new year of opportunity. Likes and Follows are cool but nothing beats a real live in-person contact. - Featured!

[Pam Horton]

You bet! Grin.

[Gaynor Fries, 919 Director]

Love it Pam - great article.

[Pam Horton]

Thanks Gaynor - and when are WE gonna hava a coffee chat? Let's schedule it!

[David DiGirolamo: Visual Comm.]

It's true. Try inviting all 400 of those people you are connected to on Facebook to your birthday party and see who actually shows up. :o)