Since proclaiming that I was going to spend less time on social media and do other stuff it seems like everyone around me is doing the same. People who used to blog are back to blogging; people who never blogged are looking for a new outlet — one where they own and control the content, ads, and layout.
Offline, the tide continues too. More people I know are learning new crafts or going back to old ones but more curious is the increased interest in gaming. On the weekend, I rolled up a character for the first time in about 15 years for a role-playing game, the first session of which starts tonight. There will be 9 of us , I think, crowded into our living room. Kiddo is very curious. She really wants to be an alchemist but we told her she needs to watch and decide if it’s really something she wants to try before she commits. For the fellow gamers in the audience, we are using the Pathfinder game system and my character is a first level rogue (spy).
More interesting than my own return to gaming is the existence of Snakes and Lattes in Toronto. They were featured on Spacecast last night and my first thought was, “How brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that?” Basically, they are a cafe whose claim to fame is a giant wall filled with every board game imaginable, from Candyland to Carcassone, and they have staff who can teach you how to play them. Seriously awesome. I do however really want them to spend just a few minutes to do something better with their website because it does not do justice to the awesomeness inside. Vancouver readers — is there anything similar there? As Mike pointed out, it may be part nostalgia/hipsterism i.e. vinyl vs. mp3 but the other thing that really came out of the interview was that people really miss hanging out together and being social in real life; they miss being part of a community.
I think that’s where the ebb tide, once it recedes, will take us — back to community. People are social creatures (yes, even us introverts) and we need our tribes. We need to remember that social media platforms are tools for communication and we shouldn’t try to live inside the toolbox.