This past Tuesday, I had the good fortune to actually meet one of the Cast of Dads members in person, Jeff Sass from Dadomatic.com. Jeff happened to be in town for the SF MusicTech Summit and since I’m based in San Francisco, we managed to meet up at an event called SFBeta. Our backgrounds are very different but we share the same passion for technology and parenthood (specifically fatherhood). We came together originally (and virtually) as part of a program with Sony called the Sony DigiDads project and we and the other 3 members (CC Chapman, Max Kalehoff & Brad Powell) had such a great time interacting with each other that we decided to form a weekly podcast called “Cast of Dads“.
Since the launch of Cast of Dads on December 7, 2009, we have all been getting together virtually via phone (and once via Skype video/in person) to record our weekly podcast about parenting, being a dad, technology and a wide variety of other topics. Most of our interaction has been virtual via emails, tweets, conference calls, social media and other on-line methods. Now Sass can hang a badge (somewhere) saying that he is the first COD member to meet all of the Cast of Dads in person.
Jeff and I spent a few minutes documenting our physical meeting using a Sony Bloggie (yes, we recorded in a bar with low lighting and lots of ambient noise) and talking about Cast of Dads and a few other topics. Below is the result:
What I find really great about this is the fact that we are moving from virtual relationships to physical friendships. All too frequently, we forget about how interactions were done “in the past”, that of actually meeting with a person face-to-face. Today, even phone calls are rare and most social interaction is done via a variety of digital processes. There is something to be said about actually spending some “face time” with a person that is not really captured or translated well with online social media or digital communications. I know that I am really bad at the physical side and rely heavily on the digital aspects of things, opting to send emails instead of picking up the phone (my wife hates that). So for me, change was good!
My point here is simple, do spend time with your connections in the real world. It is truly something that can never be captured with any digital device or virtual interaction. Physical conversations can be supplemented with digital ones, but it is not a replacement!
Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.
HTD says: Sometimes you just have to make it personal! And here, I’m talking, IN PERSON, personal!
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