If only it was that simple.

Another quote: “People don’t make a list of websites they want to see before they die.”

But, my thought: Do people make a list of websites they want to build before they die?

Part of me loves the ethos and copy of the message embedded in this commercial, which I know was carefully constructed to make me feel that way. They want me to think that this truck as the “search engine for the real world”, a trusted companion and platform for exploring the real world and getting back to “what matters.”

And it works: as a push to get us to get up and explore, it works. The message to “get out there and experience the world” is loud and clear.

But, there’s no need to make this case at the expense of the Internet. One could make an ad the exact same way, pushing us to stop reading and clicking on links, and to spend our time making things on the web, coding, building sites, writing books, creating illustrations, building apps, solving problems online and offline. “Get out there and build the world.”

I have a list of things I want to accomplish in life, to see and to do. Some of those are entirely offline, some of those are entirely online, and some of them bleed across and build upon both the offline and online.

And that’s what living a “real life” means.

Go out and explore the weekend. Online and offline. And come back and tell me what you found.