Less online, more IRL in 2026?

A local guide to spending more time in real life (locally, of course).

Happy New Year!

If you’re easing into 2026 with some feelings like you might want to spend less time online and more time actually doing things again, you’re not alone, and your instincts are on point.

The internet has been feeling louder, weirder, and harder on the nervous system for a while now. Bots and AI-generated content are everywhere, algorithmic feeds are brain-numbing, and a lot of what used to feel social now just feels kind of hollow (remember the old days when a funny raccoon video was likely to be a real raccoon doing a funny thing and not AI slop?).

The Dead Internet Theory posits that the organic internet – a place where humans talk to other humans – is dying or already dead, replaced by bots and AI slop. Research firm Imperva reported that in 2024 that for the first time, over 51% of all internet traffic is non-human.

Where to start?

The fix doesn’t have to be a big hairy dramatic life reset; it can start with something as simple as just knowing what’s happening around town at any given time and the occasional nudge to close that ‘for you’ tab and head out the door.

The irony is thick, for sure — recommending less screen time via a website is a bit like selling a new fitness program from the couch. But the point isn’t to eliminate all online forever (let’s be realistic), it’s just to spend less time wandering the internet and more time doing more things and, if you want to, meeting more people, in your own community.

Living in a town like Morinville gives you a real advantage on this front. It’s small enough that you can start recognizing people just by shopping in the same places a few times, but big enough to offer a solid variety of things to do.

And that’s why EverythingMorinville.ca exists — to help you see what’s here and make it easier to actually go do it: shop, eat, play and learn close to home, where you’re likely to run into the same people here and there.

Small habits beat big resolutions

We’re conditioned to think of January 1 as a day for grand plans — ‘new year, new me,’ yada, yada — and it usually involves hitting the gym every single day. But change that sticks usually comes from much small, repeatable habits. Getting out of the house to do something fun or interesting once a week is a start. Popped by the museum lately? Tried the new virtual golf place yet?

Changing it up helps too: if your first instinct is always the gym, maybe try something creative. If you know you need an extra incentive to stick with it, join something that happens at a set time and place … for example:

• Morinville Curling Club runs a beginner league twice a year

• Movement Dance Studio has an adult contemporary dance class

• The Morinville Art Club meets every Tuesday evening

• The Morinville-Sturgeon Men’s Shed meets regularly in a workshop space in the Sturgeon Agriplex

• 
  

… and tons more. Go over to the Recreation & Leisure section and have a browse. Try one thing: you might discover you love it, you might not. Either way, you tried something new and met some new people.

IRL connections don’t have to be time-consuming

Connection doesn’t always come from big commitments to one thing. It can also grow through routine places, familiar faces, and small, repeated interactions.

Doing your regular shopping and running errands in town, and going to local events now and then create soft social connections that make a place feel like your home instead of just the place you live. Get your car fixed by a local mechanic, buy your paint at the local hardware store, pick up your prescriptions at a local pharmacy, get your pet supplies at a local shop. Go to a junior hockey game, join a book club, take a class, play some drop-in pickleball. Little things do more than we tend to give them credit for — both for you AND for the town. 

When you need a nudge out the door

For a low-effort reminder, the Everything Morinville newsletter goes out once a week with upcoming events and a few other ideas worth leaving the house for. Subscribing right now (in the footer) can be your first step to less online, more IRL.

January through April in Morinville has a way of making staying home feel like a really reasonable thing to do. The trick is noticing when “staying cozy” is about to turn into “I haven’t put on real pants for three weekends in a row.” Before you get there, pop out of TikTok or Instagram or whatever’s distracting you and over here to everythingmorinville.com. Take a quick look at what’s happening around town, pick something, and leave the house.

That’s all there is to it!