The power of offline
I’ve been meaning to actually write a blog post for quite a long time. Today I feel that the right time has come.Â
Why now?
Today a man I knew died. He was a remarkable person - extremely kind, always very cheerful and ready to help. We worked together at my first workplace, a few years ago. We weren’t really close, we didn’t stay in touch after I left, but... his departure moved me a lot. And it moved me so much that I’ve decided to write this post.
The world we currently live in is all immersed in the digital. We are all used to conversations that are mediated by technology. And it’s an awesome world - vivid, dynamic and extremely exciting. And I love it this way.
My first workplace wasn’t like that, though. Not that it wasn’t exciting or dynamic. Rather it wasn’t permeated with all digital stuff. It was filled with people who for numerous reasons didn’t care that much about technology. Most of them (at that time) didn’t own a smartphone, few didn’t even use e-mail. And so mostly we just talked with one another. Worked together and shared experiences. Mostly offline. And while it didn’t make me super close to all my coworkers, and I didn’t become friends with most of them - it made me feel connected with them somehow. It made them mean something to me, even if I wasn’t fond of all of them. To such an extent that when I was leaving that place, my heart was aching. And to such an extent that still, after all these years, I feel extremely saddened whenever I hear news like that.Â
There is no coming back to the just offline world, of course. But next time let’s just call instead of chatting on a messenger, let’s just meet instead of writing another e-mail, and just experience stuff. Together. Offline.Â
