Images can be photoshopped, videos can be doctored, and anyone can create a false identity online and pretend to an entirely different person. It’s even difficult to know, at times, if you’re communicating with a real human or a bot. In our modern world, with so many of us interacting through our screens, it’s natural that trust is in short supply.

I, for one, long for the days of face-to-face or phone communication—the days when being social meant meeting your friends at a park, not liking someone’s picture on Instagram. In the pre-internet world, it was easier to trust, because it was a lot harder to hide behind a screen.

Now, anyone can feel free to hurl insults or bully others without consequences. That has made the internet pretty toxic, and trust hard to come by. And, as Seth Godin says, “A collection of angry people talking past each other isn’t a community.”

He’s right. A community is built on trust. It’s built on honesty, transparency, and candid communication. How can we return to a place of trust?

This may seem radical, but I suggest living less in our online ecosystems and more in our offline, real world. Step away from your monitor, log off of social media (or, better yet, delete your social media apps from your phone!), and start paying attention to the world around you. Instead of posting pictures of your dinner, begin enjoying your dinner. Talk with your family around the table, learn from them, communicate. Plan technology-free gatherings and make an effort to connect, the old-fashioned way!

Instead of paying attention to celebrities and strangers on Twitter, start paying attention to the very real people in your life—you family, friends, and co-workers. Talk with them, do things together, and BE PRESENT. This is where you’ll find actual trust—not on some social media forum.

On the other side of the coin, demonstrate that you are a trustworthy person. Follow through with your commitments, don’t partake in gossip, and be true to yourself. Your authenticity will be apparent to others, I guarantee it.

We could all use a little more trust today. Start small and don’t be afraid to walk away from (or, at the very least, limit) online interactions. What would the world be like if we made the radical decision to build trusting, real-world relationships?

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