Are our online lives taking over our 'real' ones?

1. 86

   Docmoposted 13 years ago

   Are our online lives taking over our 'real' ones?
   
   as we spend more and more time on social networking sites and developing links through online networks, are our 'real lives' increasing being taken over by our vicarious online lives?
   
   

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2. 73

   purnimamoh1982posted 13 years ago

   Its not precisely so. A decision about spending time is necessarily about priorities. The reason why a person spends time on Internet has many dimensions, but certainly, one is deriving a satisfaction from it. So, her spending time on Net can be considered as an effort to draw some satisfaction. If one is sacrificing some real life for the sake of some more satisfaction, there is no need to bother about if the person has grown enough to take her decisions about how to spend time. Its much better (at least economically) than spending time in a pub or disco.

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3. 72

   DanaTeresaposted 13 years ago

   I agree with purnimamoh1982. It is all about what you are doing online and what that time online is taking away from. If you have isolated yourself from friends and family and it is impacting your life negatively, than it is not a good thing. But if you have an enriching online life where you are interacting and growing as a person then I think the online life is contributing to your real one. Thanks to facebook I am now in touch with friends and family that I never would have been. Thanks to hubpages I have found people that I connect with emotionally and intellectially that I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise. And this has helped me grow as a reson and be more of a presence on my "real" life. It is all about balance. Unfortunalety there are those that will let the online life consume them, but if you think about it, what sort of "real" life did a person like that have to begin with?

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4. 57

   Anillaposted 13 years ago

   True, lately ive been finding myself spending too much time on www.cloudromance.com

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5. 68

   Amy Bechererposted 13 years ago

   No doubt, online takes up time.  It can be and is addictive for many.  However, I believe the natural inclination of any individual determines whether "online" activities supercede real life.
   
   Someone with a proclivity for introversion may hide behind the computer screen, finding it serves the human need for connection, sans the anxiety of face to face interaction.  Extroverted personalities may initiate connections online, but feels a strong desire to actually connect with the energy another human being provides.
   
   The internet is part of life today.  Business, information, the ability to research a topic, and social interaction makes it a useful, beneficial and necessary tool.  With every innovation, there are negative aspects, as well.  As adults, we all have the power to make our own choices, for good or bad.  With a computer now in the majority of homes, the power lies in the hands of the user.  For some who have the inclination for reclusion, it may be their only means of connection.  However, that is still better than total seclusion.  I believe the majority of the population are healthy enough to pursue "real" connections.  Despite the negative media regarding the internet (and their are serious consequences in circumstances where naivete allows), I believe that real love is a possibility via the internet.

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6. 65

   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   In general (as opposed to in my personal circumstances), I think a lot of people spend too much time on the Internet, and to the point where some younger people today are said to have had their ability socially interact offline has been affected.  That's not just my opinion.  It's something that has been noticed by people who study such things.
   
   In my own life, I don't have much of an online life.  I do write "for legitimate" reasons (work-related), and then I write in my down time.  Both are a small part (sometimes bigger part than others) of my "real" life.   Other than that, though, the only socializing I do is on the HP forums (which, to me, is a small part of the even smaller part-of-my-life that is free-time writing).  I do the little bit of other stuff online, like the usual checking e.mail, paying bills, and/or shopping - and that's it.
   
   Since I'm the same person on HubPages that I am in "real" life (although I use a user name); I'm looking at writing a Hub every once in awhile, reading one here or there, and leaving up the HP site in case I want to pop onto the forums or Answers section when I have a few spare minutes (or the occasional spare hour or day off).
   
   This may be because I grew up before there was an Internet and just got used to a world without it, but the concept of "socializing" online isn't something I really even get.  (lol)   Some people socialize online with the friends they have in "real" life, so I sort of understand that.    For me, though, if it doesn't involve either being together in person or talking on the phone, it isn't "social".  It's "something else".  "Social", for me, has to include the "actual person", or else it's just information about them - and I'm not particularly interested in people's "information".  I'm interested in being with, and talking to, the people in my life.
   
   AND, when it comes to getting all involved with social networks and whatever goes on with them (like people pretending to be interested in what other people offer just to have a place to post their own links)...    That, I just see as a waste of my own time, more phony than I ever want to be, and pretty much torture".  Of course, maybe I just don't know how to "socialize" online.  Well, I take that back.  I not only don't know how to "socialize" online, but as I said, I just don't even really get the concept (or understand why anyone would even be interested in it, other to get traffic to their own stuff - in which case, it isn't socializing, it's business as far as I'm concerned).   So, in answer to your question, yes.  I think too many people spend way too much time online; when, really, there's such a thing as an offline life and world that a lot of people are missing out on by "living" online for no real good reason.

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7. 68

   afriqnetposted 13 years ago

   I work for two hours offline and I spend the other time online. I am of late writing more and hanging out more in the Hubpages and I think that this is the way I will spend my entire life. The HP community and other online communities are more vibrant and make me feel I am a full time citizen of the virtual World.

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8. 60

   xstaticposted 13 years ago

   Good question docmo! Once you start writing on HP, and reading and following good writers, you want to read more and more. I always try to read the Hubs of people I follow and enjoy the comments of people who read my Hubs. As you write more, it seems to snowball and you discover more people from reading comments they make and want to read their writings as well. It is great entertainment, and improves your writing as well.

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