I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – there’s something to be said for actual, face-to-face human contact.

You can’t replace it. You can’t duplicate it. Even in this day and age, where you can feasibly know every important piece of information about someone’s life without ever having spoken to them – or, for that matter, met them – human contact is still important.

People lived for centuries without the constant connection of social media, computers and smartphones. They didn’t live without real-world families and friendships.

We may be a digital generation, but we have analog lives, too.

I, for one, would much rather be at a party with my friends than at home reading tweets and text messages about what a great time they’re having. I would rather be taking the pictures than seeing them later on Facebook. It gets boring staring at a screen – and, if you do it long enough, it gives you a serious headache.

If anything, our analog lives are made more complex by our digital ones. Not only do we need stellar interview and phone skills, but our e-mail and texting has to look professional when the situation requires.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Our Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, MySpace profiles (if they exist anymore), and everything Google-able has to appear spick and span and viewable by potential employers, colleges and parents. That keg stand you did at that frat party freshman year was a lot easier to hide 10 years ago.

Not to mention, your digital world wouldn’t be very exciting if your analog one wasn’t filled with people and activities. Without those first connections…well, you’re kind of just a creeper looking for friends in a chatroom.

When it comes down to it, our digital lives complement our analog ones. And it should never be the other way around.

(Originally posted on The Next Great Generation)