#IRL Means In Real Life

Beyonce funny photo

Recently I had a couple of experiences that reminded me of the folly of thinking we have a great social life if we have a bunch of Facebook, Twitter, and other online friends. Yes, “virtual friends” can be meaningful, but nothing trumps meeting and knowing people IRL, aka in real life. In Real Life means face to face, sitting near one another, interacting in real time, and otherwise being a human being. Yes, it’s alien to many of us – especially our kids – but it brings rewards that can’t be calculated by Klout or the number of “likes” or so-called “followers” you might have.

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Teaching Our Kids #Empathy at #DadChat

What is empathyTeaching our kids empathy is this Thursday’s #DadChat topic on June 27 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. PT/9:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET. EVERY parent knows that our kids tend to see the world through one view – their own. Then they become teenagers and ONLY see it ALL from a self-centered POV. How do we parents teach them to care about others, the world at large, and away from their own immediate needs and wants? That is what we’ll discuss with co-host Marie Roker-Jones this week.

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One-Half Billion, as in “B,” Impressions at #DadChat

#DadChat is going on two years old and I estimate that we garnered over 500,000,000 “impressions” in 2012. That estimate is likely lower than the reality since #DadChat has become more than a once-a-week hourly get together. Our hashtag is synonymous with parents and added to parent-centric tweets all the time, plus the community is always interacting. It’s a beautiful thing. NOTE: I just did an actual count, using each week’s transcript numbers from Hashtracking.com and the actual number for all of 2012 is 682,000,000 .

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How to Make a Difference: ONE Person at a Time

I often proselytize about how we can each make a difference. Every Sunday on my A Dad’s Point-of-View Facebook Page, I ask as part of what I call #FaithSunday, “What are YOU doing to Repair the World?” It’s said that we can repair the world, one person at a time. I believe that to my core. Trying to solve the big problems in the world can be simply overwhelming, but everyone can touch a single human being. Everyone can make a difference.

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