The Internet has Changed How We Live Our Lives

For adults, the term IRL - in real life - truly meant life offline.

At least at first.

It was a game, a past time, something we were all figuring out. We were told that the things we did online in essence weren't real because they happened online. But the actions we, and others, take online can have offline consequences.

​Using this phrase, IRL has done a disservice to us, to our kids generation and to all younger generations who are growing up with access to the world through a digital platform. Digital Natives. For them the digital world is just as real as the one offline. They are interconnected and they can’t be separated. 

Real life isn’t just offline.

Online and offline impact and are effected by each other. Saying offline is ‘real life” is an illusion that perpetuates the idea that what happens online doesn’t matter.

But, it does matter.

Our young people have had a digital presence from such an early age and they are generally unaware of the consequences (good and bad) that their online life has offline. 

We need to

• help our kids understand that their actions online can effect more than the number of likes or followers we gain
• teach them how to move forward with a positive and beneficial digital footprint
• explain the consequences online actions can have and how one thing online can impact their whole life

Join the conversation! Let me know how you are helping make your kids aware of how their online actions effect their offline life experience.