Blog · Generations

How to network with the internet?

Those who grew up before the internet and those born inside it build relationships in different ways. People often talk about a war between generations: it's more useful to look at what each one does better than the other.

Published 11 November 2021 · revised 16 August 2026

What the younger generation teaches

Cultivate authenticity

Online is a world with its own rules, and those who grew up in it read them much faster. Just look at how quickly they spot a fake image or a message written to sell something.

That's exactly why they prefer an honest presence to a manufactured one: being real generates trust. And that's advice that holds at any age — it's just that it comes naturally to some and not to others.

What the older generation teaches

That face-to-face isn't a fallback, and that some things can only be said in person.

The two paths don't exclude each other: they enrich each other. Those from the earlier generation would do well to explore the channels they don't use; those who come after would do well not to abandon the table.

The advice that holds at any age

Listen with intention

How you listen matters. Before an important conversation, do your homework, prepare your questions and decide what you want to understand. A meeting succeeds not because of what we say, but because of what we hear.

And listen with intention: being genuinely present, taking part instead of waiting for your turn. It holds whether you're twenty, forty or sixty — and it's the only thing in this article that hasn't changed since 2021.

One word at a time

The real difference isn't generational

It's between those who keep their relationships in their head and those who've declared them somewhere. And age has nothing to do with that difference.

The shared limit

Whether you prefer coffee or a message, the ceiling is the same: roughly a hundred and fifty stable relationships. The channel changes, not the capacity — and everyone stops at a hundred and fifty, whether born in 1960 or 2000.

What gets past the limit

Not a social network, not a bigger address book: a declaration. In the discipline it's called the Relational Footprint — who you are, what you do and who you know, across nineteen sectors — and on top of that map, the calculation proposes the right introduction.

The result is a match: not a contact to work, but an introduction both parties accept before sitting down. And the act of opening that door is a reference, made the same way on Zoom and at the bar.

The channel changes. It doesn't change who puts their face on the line.

The first step

Where your company stands, as a number

AIRA-SCAN© measures the relational capital your company already has: ten questions, three minutes, no registration. Your browser calculates the score and it shows immediately, with the areas where you lose the most points.

The extended report then arrives by email, and within one working day a person calls you: you look at the result together and assess whether the Stoic Analysis AIRA-DX© makes sense for your company. It is free and limited to twelve a week, so it is not owed to whoever does the check-up: it is decided by both of you.

Prefer just talking about it? The number is 0549 888808.

Measure your Relational Capital — ten questions, three minutes