OnLine vs OffLine

I recall when MTV debuted.

I was 21 years old but did not have cable so I didn’t have access.

It wasn’t until ’83 or ’84 when I moved to a town that required you to either have a big old antenna to pull in TV signals from 60 miles away, or you signed up for cable.

Anyway, I was a radio jock and there was a song Video Killed the Radio Star that predicted that music radio was going to disappear due to music videos.

Video did not kill music radio, we have discovered 30 years later.

Quite the opposite occurred as MTV is now full of “reality shows”.

Jersey Shore, 16 and Pregnant, and Pranked to name a few.

The most recent MTV Video Music Awards had their audience drop in half this year to 6 million compared to 12 million in 2011.

As online activity has picked up with the huge rise in social media activity which is now mainstream, and the growth of mobile access via smart phones and tablets, some folks predicted that we would be doing nearly everything online and our offline activity would die off.

This begs an answer to What is Offline Activity?

Simple answer:  Anything we do that is not directly connected to the internet.

Eating, Sleeping, Bathroom activity.  All of this is offline activity.

But wait,what if I order a pizza online?

Yes, that is online, but the actual eating is offline unless it’s a virtual pizza that your Second Life character is eating.

Instead of OnLine vs. OffLine, we are seeing an integration of the two.

I’ll watch a TV program and Tweet at the same time, sometimes about the show I am watching.

My industry, broadcasting has added social media to their mix, inviting listeners and viewers to interact via Facebook and Twitter.

Just Saturday night, my wife had me read from a website the step by step recipe instructions for our dinner as she was assembling the ingredients.

More and more we are seeing the benefits of this integration.

But…

Beware of the dangers of obsession.

Spending too much time online can lead to a lopsided life.

This is true with anything we can overdo.

Too much chocolate cake can add 100 pounds to your body.

Too much Football viewing can cut into family time.

Too much time spent sleeping means less time to accomplish tasks that you need to be awake for.

You get the picture.

OnLine

OffLine

It’s a balance, not a battle.