We are immersed in WhatsApp groups, online courses, entertainment platforms, apps, video games…. However, when I tried to count all the ‘virtual worlds’ in which I participate, I struggled to come up with an answer. Are we really aware of all the communities to which we belong? Perhaps some of them remain silent, as if on pause, but we are still there.
Belonging and participating: the digital dilemma
In trying to recount, I find it difficult to identify how I came to be part of some virtual communities. I recently joined an e-learning proposal. At first, it seemed interesting, but I soon realised that I was in an environment full of slogans, rules and responsibilities for which I was not prepared. So I got off.
This process was a learning process in itself. While I saw the effort of those coordinating the community to keep it active, with constant encouragement and instructions, I found it invasive. It made me reflect on the importance of setting clear expectations before committing to anything. While some people were enjoying the experience as if they were at Disney, I opted out.
Belonging and staying in a community has consequences, some conscious and some not so conscious. To organise my thoughts, I thought in three stages: join, use, leave. Almost as if it were a book or a script, with a beginning, middle and end. This led me to question myself: what entry barriers do I set before joining a virtual community? Am I selective or do I join them all without thinking too much?
It is essential to understand what each community involves: time, attention, actions and, above all, a degree of involvement. Sometimes it is for a specific need; sometimes it is simply out of curiosity. But not all generations interact with these spaces in the same way.
Virtual communities and their impact on our lives
If you think about it, you may be in more communities than you would like to be. Each of them has a different priority depending on where you are at the moment. This generates noise. There are conversations we have with ourselves before we interact or respond, and others that happen almost automatically.
Keeping the balance between so many connections is a complex act, like those jugglers who hold several cymbals in the air. And although it may not seem like it, that effort counts too. Holding a form, a style, can become exhausting without our noticing it.
We are not born with this ability; my first ‘communities’ as a child were simple conversations with imaginary friends. Today, they are virtual groups so real that they generate all kinds of emotions in me. Do you get it?
Is a digital detox enough?
We spend so much time in virtual environments that they become an extension of our daily lives. The question is: is it enough to implement healthy individual detox rules? I think it depends on personality and usage, but the truth is that it is always worth reviewing which communities we are in and whether we want to remain in them.
What kind of interaction do I generate, do I just read and react, or do I really participate? This is just the beginning of a conversation with myself, but identifying where I am allows me to make more conscious decisions.
Sometimes a simple emoji or sticker can spark a giant conversation. Have you noticed?
A Marie Kondo approach to our digital communities
In the end, our virtual communities also have characters, rules and expectations. And, as in real life, all of us there share some common interest. But are we willing to clean up?
I am reminded of Marie Kondo and her famous method of organisation: keep, donate, throw away. How could we adapt this to our digital world? Perhaps the categories would be: stay, evaluate, disconnect. Review where I really want to be active and disconnect from those communities that no longer contribute.
Final reflection: The value of continuous review
This is only the first step in a process that will continue to evolve. Today more than ever, we need to stop and review our digital connections with the same attention we pay to our personal relationships. Constant review not only improves our mental health, but also helps us to be more effective in the communities where we really want to excel, whether for fun, collaboration, sharing or networking.
The power of networking is incredible, virtuous and exciting, the flipside is being in many virtual worlds, and increasingly we know that being in many things at once can be almost like not really being in any.
It is time to pause and ask ourselves: how many virtual communities do we inhabit, do we leave our mark, and how many do we really want to continue to inhabit?
Just as it is fashionable to search for purpose, let us take the time to review the purpose of our presence and footprint in virtual communities.
It is a topic I am passionate about and I think it deserves more analysis. Perhaps this is just the beginning of a new chapter or, who knows, a second season. So, ‘to be continued…’
