The art of real-life conversations, the value of real-life connections

Virtual hugs, likes, emojis, gifs, memes, and acronyms -- online, these are what have been slowly replacing our smiles, audible gasps, laughter, replies, and reactions. Communicating online has become an integral part of keeping in touch.

People update themselves on their friends’ lives through social media with photos, captions, and comments. Greetings during birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, and condolences are given even without seeing each other. Social media and online apps are becoming our main means of communication over real life interaction and face-to-face conversations.

Using online services or social media to communicate with friends and family is quick, easy and convenient, especially for those separated by great distances and time zones. It becomes essential to quickly convey all things from everyday concerns to happy updates or distressing emergencies.

The same means, though, can be the source of great misunderstanding, too. The lack of intonation, non-verbal cues, touch, body language, and facial expressions can be cause for misinterpretation and confusion. People can also misconstrue messages with mistakes stemming from incorrect autocorrection.

In the professional setting, organizations need online communication in order to thrive; making meetings from all parts of the world possible, providing a convenient way to exchange instant feedback, and efficiently speeding up the process of collaboration.

With all these, is online communication really an upgrade?

Not when it leads to isolation. Not when it depletes our skills in using real words and sentences and having real life conversations. Not when we become naïve about non-verbal cues and body language. All these skills are important, as interacting and socializing are foundations for trust. Personal or sensitive topics are also better dealt with eye to eye than keyboard to keyboard to lessen chances of miscommunication. Face to face interaction creates stronger bonds and also keeps everyone truly engaged in the conversation, unlike in online chats where a person can be multitasking, unknowingly away from the conversation for long periods of time, or simply distracted by other things.

Speed and ease in communicating is a great benefit of technology and social media but it shouldn’t be our only means of interacting. Instead, it should bridge the gap made by time, distance, and the distractions of life so that we can schedule an actual catch up with friends in the flesh. This face-to-face interaction brings better emotional health than having a screen between you. It also fosters an intimacy and connection that virtual connectedness cannot provide. If online conversations bring efficiency, offline conversations bring important intangible aspects to creating meaningful relationships like warmth and affection.

So find that perfect balance between the convenience of instant online exchanges, and the warmth of real-life conversations.  Rapidly make connections and start dialogues online, and continuously strengthen it IRL. Make the first move, and get into the art of conversation. Start with a simple “Musta?” As you get the discussion going with San Miguel Beer, witness how real life conversations set off to become life-long connections.