Connect without Facebook and Twitter

A friend last week mentioned she wishes to join Facebook Anonymous. She mocks herself that the site is open on her laptop, and its related apps too are active on all her iDevices and their cousins. She, as is easy to guess, is not the only one. Many others (myself included), are in the same boat, where we feel that the pie called social networking is getting too big to bite. That we need to connect lesser number of times, with lesser people. Let life happen in reality rather than virtually. Take in the moment actually, and not think about clicking it and sharing it first. 

I myself have taken a social networking sabbatical back in 2010 for a successful ten months (Yayy, to that!), and even after I went back, set some strict discipline for the online world. (But that my friends is another post altogether!) . Today's post is an extract of my personal experiences, on how I remained connected during my sabbatical from the social media scene - 

• Remember the good old alphabetically ordered telephone directory our parents maintained in the landlines era? A similar master contact list of friends and knowns is a good to have. Make it exhaustive, list people from all the places you studied and worked with. Include relatives and distant cousins too.

• Send in your new year greetings and wishes for other festivities in an email - it seems a lot more personal than wishing them in a general status update.

• Take a note of important events (such as birthdays, anniversaries) for the people who mean to you, and wish them over the email. They will be happily surprised.

• Changes can happen in your life too - let your contacts know of significant events in your own life (like getting married, becoming parents, moving cities). This will keep people informed on the happenings of your life. 

• Backup your phone once every fortnight to avoid loosing connections as a result of a crashed or a stolen phone. This advice comes 'direct, dil se', straight from the heart in English.

• You love random phone calls which last more than expected. Everyone else loves them too. Call your friends once in a while to connect on a one to one basis.