Tis the season to see evermore predictions as to what technological breakthroughs the new year will bring.  These predictions inspire, frighten, and perplex me all at the same time.

I am very excited about what we’ll see hit mainstream this year – be it better mobile devices, wearable technology, implanted medical devices or intelligent robots, just to name a few.  But as technologically advanced as these things may be, I keep coming back to a thought:

Every new technological advancement makes real world person-to-person interaction that much more important.

I have written about this before and will continue to do so as I feel it is of utmost importance.  The more you depend on digital communication tools, the less you end up “connecting” with the individual you are communicating with.  Digital communications such as text message, gchat, SnapChat, Instagram, Skype and the like lack any non-verbal cues and the innate human feeling of connection you get when you make eye contact with another human.

This results in a net negative within your social interactions.  “What did he mean by that text?”  “Is she mad or just being sarcastic?”  “Why does he check his phone every 30 seconds?  Is he bored talking with me?” “Am I the only one he flirts with through text messages?”  “Who else is he connected with on Facebook?”

The lesson here is even as we continually progress as a society and adopt more digital communication tools, you must never forget the best experience is analog.  Actually, it would be best if you committed this year to spend more time with more people – offline.

Grab coffee.

Buy them a beer.

Share a bottle of wine.

Take a hike.

Go rafting.

Take a walk.

And then take some time to look them in the eye and really connect with them.  Trust me, it will be unique and special since almost nobody does this anymore.

It’s amazing that in a world where we have thousands of followers, scores of readers and hundreds of “friends” one can feel alone and disconnected.   I believe the reason is because we really can’t “connect” to another being in the digital world.

So don’t fall into the trap.

Live in the real world and let people know how you really feel about them through authentic human interactions.