To Be or Not to Be

My sometime Tools of Change sparring partner Brian O’Leary recently discussed the thought that in a digital world to be offline means, in part at least, “not to exist at all”. A thought of epigrammatic simplicity and elegance along the lines of Johnson’s To be tired of London is to be tired of life. A phrase that contains an essential truth at the same time as ignoring its equally honest antithesis.

It’s a conundrum that has been in the forefront of my mind this year. A period of illness and absence from work resulted in a self-imposed 3-month exile from life online while I thought seriously about my future. And indeed – severed from the ability to connect and share ideas with friends around the world I did feel as though a part of me had ceased to exist. However it was also a period of time when it is arguable that I rediscovered what it is to live – particularly within the context of my home and family. Living without the invasive distractions of Twitter and the time-hunger of blogging has allowed me to reconnect with my teenagers – through the simple expedient of listening to them without a laptop or iPad on my knee or a cellphone in my hand. Physically I’m much fitter, courtesy of an hour a day in the gym and morning and evening dog walking.

Just at the end of the garden from my front door is the long straight Roman road that ran from London through Lincoln and up to York: Ermine Street now a modern road but following the same direct course through Cambridgeshire and on northwards. Offline – in a way – I felt as though I was back in a pre-digital classical age. On the other side of Ermine Street from my house is a milestone that bears the inscription London 50 miles. It could just as easily have been 500 or 5,000.

But delightful as it was, this time offline was only made tolerable by being finite. This week I’ve been back out and about – at real-life meetings, such as today’s BIC New Trends Summer Seminar (#bicnewtrends12), and online through Twitter following the American Association of University Presses annual meeting #aaup12. It’s almost like being a starving (wo)man suddenly presented with over-rich food – cramming in more than I can possibly digest. I’ve driven Twitter followees mad with a flurry of tweets. Like a child in a candy store and a bull in a china shop I’m relishing my dive back into the online ideas space. But for all this digital gluttony I’m aware that there are a real challenges to face and solve. A healthy balance of real life with those I love – and an intellectual and professional life rendered “real” by being lived at least in part online. This is a challenge I’ll be exploring in more detail here in the coming weeks. If you’re going to join me in that exploration I have a couple of reading suggestions. Andrew Keen’s Digital Vertigo (@ajkeen) and Doc Searls Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge (@dsearls). Go on…get reading!!