I sat staring at my computer recently and the thought struck me: this just doesn’t cut it.

I poured over articles on LinkedIn, looking for a bit of inspiration – maybe one idea I could use that day.

It was not to happen. Most of the material was self-serving. None of it imparted any wisdom that I would consider actionable.

I then drifted over to skype to see if I could communicate with a friend of mine who is 2,000 miles away. But I only catch him once every 3 weeks, and our conversations are very brief. Month after month we torture each other with an endless discussion of how we will get into business together and conquer the world.

But nothing ever happens.

Why is this?

The medium is not conducive to action.

For all the great things we derive from the Internet, relying on it as our sole or primary source of motivation and as an impetus to kick start projects is, I am sure, a mistake.

I spend my days emailing people, only to receive replies from maybe 60 per cent of them, even though I am raising important topics which impacts them directly. It never ceases to amaze me how much of a dis-connect exists online.

What we have is a sporadic, unreliable, sketchy and frankly – for a growing number of us – depressing form of interaction.

We humans, no matter how advanced technology becomes, need face to face communication.

I need to see the expression on people’s faces.

I need a hug once in a while, as do they.

I need to live in what is now referred to as the “real” world, because the virtual world is leaving me, as each day passes, more and more empty, unfulfilled and confused.

All of the gadgets before us are simply tools. But they must not take centre stage, replacing our humanity.

So this week – I decided to contact a number of key people in my life and invite them to a real face to face exchange. For some of us, this means considerable travel. There is no specific agenda. It is simply an opportunity to experience a bit of “real life”. A few of them thought I was crazy, evidence of just how inhuman we’ve become.

As we approach a new year, let’s ensure that technology is truly used to serve us, and not slip into a path where we are serving it.

Let’s turn it off – often.

And let’s reach out to people in our lives to see them physically as much as we can.

Yes – oh yes – let us live in the real world.