The Internet And You

[Nucleose]

I wasn't sure if there was a more suitable place to put this, as it doesn't involve anything particularly controversial, but I do want it to be taken seriously. Rather than a controversial discussion, it is more of a collection of opinions that can be freely discussed. I suppose if you don't want your opinion to be commented on, don't post? Anyways, to the subject.

This topic asks something about your personal connection with the internet.

Many people view the internet as a way to get away from life, to forget about their problems in a place where they don't have to worry, doing whatever recreational activities they so desire, and likely talking to other people through mediums like forums. How do you see the internet, and what place does it have in your life? More importantly is what I'm following this up with. Among the many usernames you see on forum or where ever, there are people behind those names and avatars, with lives and personalities. Do you make friends online even though you may never meet them? Would you even consider that one has the possibility of being as much of a friend as a friend from your physical social life? Could you imagine or do you already deeply care about anyone you've never met on line, and have established a bond? How do you view other people online? Another point to ask is, do you mask your real self through the internet? Is it intentional? Why do you hide your actual personality, or on the other hand use the internet to say things you feel but wouldn't say?

I suppose the main questions to sum it up here is, do you split up or mix reality and the internet, why, and how?

I personally treat the internet the same way I generally treat normal life. Meeting someone online to me is the same as meeting someone in real life, and I have friends that I do care for online just as much as my real friends. I avoid masking, and act the way online that I generally do in real life, so that I know the me people see online is me. Through all of this, I don't use the internet to get away from my problems either, as I consider my problems on the internet and my problems in life into one thing.

Rather than use the internet to escape my life, I use it to enhance my life.

What about you guys?

[ArsenicNog]

I always think that people in forums look like their avatars in real life. Nucleose, I believe you are an incredibly pale pipe-smoker with no face.

EDIT: When I was younger surfing the web was an escape from real life. I knew people who were willing to talk about things I couldn't share with other people. I'm terribly anti-social. That's probably why I would never meet an internet friend in real life. I can't express myself vocally as well as I can with text (even then I'm not that great). Either way, I'm the same person.

At some point, the internet and real life got pretty tangled up for me. Real life drama led to me ruining several close internet friendships. Things that happened on the internet have made the last couple years pretty sucky.

The internet is just for fun. (:

[SCP]

I tend to separate my Internet/real life stuff, for two main reasons:

1. Talking about the Internet in real life is almost always awkward.
2. People can stalk/impersonate you if they get enough of your information online.

[Solaris]

That was not very serious, and kinda fucks with the purpose of him even posting it here, Arsenic.
Anyway, I love the internet.
It lets me meet people I may never get to otherwise.
I don't know if that means anything, if we will have any friendships that bleed into the real world, but hey, Hare Force One is freaking awesome, glad to be a part of that.
And anyway, I try to remember that behind every single pixel I see, there is a real human there.
And I have to say, coming here to this forum was one of the best and worst things to happen to me. I love all of you guys.
Anyway, I don't let my attitude in real life affect the one that I type.
I am extremely pissed off at my sister right now.
EXTREMELY
But one other thing I like about the internet is that it lets me think a little before I speak.
But I will admit, it might be causing a problem with mah sleep.

[bebarce]

I've mentioned this before, but I can't say that I know anyone more googleable than myself. Googling my first name will almost always pull up a direct reference to me. So i'm a completely open book. It's something i've embraced. Which is why my usernames are always my first name. And why my avatars are always just renditions of myself.

[Nucleose]

It's [s]probably[/s] causing problems with my sleep too.
Things never really get very awkward for me, I don't have much trouble talking about anything in real life. I am also incredibly naive and believe that the chances of someone stalking me are pretty much impossible.

Yes, bad things have happened on the internet that have gotten me down. Actually, something bad happening is what made me make this topic. I lost an internet friend today, and one of the things he said particularly hurt me, since I've known the guy for years.

"Personally, I don't deeply care about any of the people I meet online."

Yeah.

At first, I was also afraid of joining this forum for the reasons that it was big. The forum I hail from is very small, so I've seen everyone there as family, including the guy above. Unfortunately he was kind of a jerkwad, and things happened among the "family" that caused him to just leave us forever.

EDIT: Just like you, I often just put my full name everywhere. I like to. I'm naive.

[Doktor Sneeze]

I have pretty severe social anxiety, which is worse in person than on the internet, so I use the Internet as a place where I can actually talk to people. I've probably had more friends online in the last 5 years than I've had in person in the last 15, and the friends I make on the internet are as real to me as any people I see in person, and it always sort of baffles me when people act like whatever happens on the internet doesn't matter because it isn't real.

[dragonpaul99]

I personally treat the internet the same way I generally treat normal life. Meeting someone online to me is the same as meeting someone in real life, and I have friends that I do care for online just as much as my real friends. I avoid masking, and act the way online that I generally do in real life, so that I know the me people see online is me. Through all of this, I don't use the internet to get away from my problems either, as I consider my problems on the internet and my problems in life into one thing.

This is basically the same way I treat the internet. But I think it's worth mentioning that problems online are a little easier to deal with because you can just log off, or stop visiting the site, or block the person you're annoyed with.

I'd also like to mention that I really, really hate the phrase "real life." I wouldn't mind if people talked about real life as compared to virtual reality or an imaginary universe, but they never do. It's always, "You need to get off the computer and get into the real world." or even worse, "Soon, you kids will be getting out of school and getting into the real world." Aren't we already in the real world? It's not like you enter some magical world without consequences whenever you enter school or go online. If someone is trying whatever they want without wanting to live with the consequences of what they say, they're probably a troll.

I always think that people in forums look like their avatars in real life.

I look exactly like one of my avatars. But is it the Wafflegator, the Ankylosaurus, or Dang Ron Paul? It's a mystery!

[Superfrequency]

I feel that I spend altogether too much time discussing meaningless bullshit.

[ArsenicNog]

That was not very serious, and kinda fucks with the purpose of him even posting it here, Arsenic.

I wasn't done typing, hence the edit. Also, that was a serious statement. I will believe a person looks like their cartoony avatar until I get photographic evidence otherwise. It's what I associate that person with.

<snip>

I look exactly like one of my avatars. But is it the Wafflegator, the Ankylosaurus, or Dang Ron Paul? It's a mystery!

Wafflegator?

I think it's unfortunate that people in real life can't be dealt with in the same manner. Also, I think for some that "real life" has come to mean "the years of fruitless agony that lead to an anti-climatic death". The internet is part of real life and being in school is part of being in real life. I guess that those parts of real life have less of a sting? I'm not sure what I was trying to say. I'm sorry.

[Nucleose]

I feel that I spend altogether too much time discussing meaningless bullshit.

I'm not sure what you mean by that in relation to this topic. :/

Anyways, that whole "real life" thing is why some people act as though people on the internet aren't "real people" because they aren't part of the "real world" that they're in. I don't like it one bit either.

[Superfrequency]

It was a self-referential joke like ha ha

[Moh Tzu]

i use the internet as a way to eat up time, which is kind of backfiring since i'm at the point in my life where i should be spending that time doing something productive. like studying, or doing independent research and stuff like that.

[SodaMence]

I'm actually kind of an internet addict. I'm not really sure what the Internets 'role' in my life would be, but I suppose I do use it to escape "real life" and as a distraction when there is probably a million more important things I could be doing.


And also as for friendship, I've actually never formed any close bonds with anyone over the internet (which is strange seeing as I'm always on the internet). Then again I don't really have too many close bonds with people in "real life" either. So I guess I'm just socially akweird where ever I go.

[Jitka]

I've been part of various online communities for a little more than five years, and in that time I've made a bunch of great friends that I consider to be just as good as my irl friends. Ace, or LeCrab as he calls himself here for whatever reason, has been one of my best online friends for almost that entire five year period. There are a bunch of others as well.

Wherever I go online I tend to make two or three close friends that I'd be willing to meet in real life some day. I don't know if it will ever happen but I'd be willing.

I often get scoffed at when I mention my internet friends, not sure why. Maybe they think I can't make real friends in real life so i have to do it on the internet? I don't know. Really the only distinction I make between my real life friends and my internet friends is distance.

[elrunethe2nd]

I generally treated the internet as an anonymous thing - not in the way that 4chan does, eg: as a vehicle for being able to do whatever you like and get away with it, but as a tool which removes barriers we put between people with our senses. It always surprised me that people who could be polar opposites in real life due to how they saw the other could get over such hurdles when all that divides is text. It boils the complicated web of interaction down to our ideas and how we carry ourself with words and pictures.

I find things like Facebook really unfortunate. People seem to have this idea that Facebook is the pinnacle of online friendship - that when someone lets you see their picture and know their name, you've effectively won their friendship. I believe that such things ruin any preconceptions a person gets. Or perhaps its just me. Perhaps I just see it in myself, and assume that everyone else behaves the same way. I don't really know. I just know that when you hear people wilt visibly in their tone of conversation after they take their fill of curiosity from your details, its really depressing. Regardless, I avoid my internet friends Facebook accounts like the plague.

I guess... I don't treat the internet like I treat 'irl' because i'm super shy outside of my close friends and really only become chatty and personable when anonymous.

I always think that people in forums look like their avatars in real life.

Absolutely. I know its impossible, but its still a face I cannot help applying to people.

[Marelo]

The internet is nothing to me except a tool for communication, a resource.

[ParadoxSpider]

For me the internet is nothing. I couldn't really care one way or another about it.

What matters to me is the people. It infuriates me when people decide that they don't have to be "real" because it's the internet. I mean seriously? How many people do you know who aren't real in reality? Personally I believe the majority of them. I know that when you get a typing medium and as much time as you can ever need to type up whatever words you want then what you post is probably more "real" than what you would just be discussing with someone.

That said I take internet "relationships" with a grain of salt. Sure, one of my best friends I've never really met outside online, but at the same time there are almost countless ways to be burned when you open up your heart and mind to someone who hides behind a fake name and picture, no matter how awesome they may seem.

The other way the internet is revolutionary is the way it distributes information. I've lived with it my whole life so it's hard for me to appreciate just what that means. I mean, imagine if all you had to look at was books. You had to go to your library, and were at the mercy of whatever books they had on the subject.. if the information was wrong, you would learn the wrong thing. If the information was outdated you'd be out of date, etc. With the internet you get the same advantage as everyone else, regardless. Information is easy and accessible, perhaps to the point that it is going too far and bad information is as accessible as good... but that just means a new form of researching must be mastered, and most who grew up with the internet can think like that naturally.

In short: Internet is pretty awesome when looking up facts, and people on the internet are pretty cool guys, but don't just trust outright.

[elrunethe2nd]

What matters to me is the people. It infuriates me when people decide that they don't have to be "real" because it's the internet.

Yeeeeeeessss.

Yes. yes. yes.

[Nucleose]

That can be one of the worst things that I see, treating real people like...basically tools or robots. Even moreso, one who thinks that talking to people online or having friends over long distances has no effect on their life at all, I would say it at least has emotional effect and experiences.

I'm also very easy to trust people I think are cool. Even quicker if they are some kind of artist, music, visual or otherwise.

[Gankro]

What if they just do that regardless of medium.

[Nucleose]

Then they're probably jerks anyways (Emphasis on probably, some people may just have a different view on "friends" roles in their lives). I usually don't end up being able to make friends with those kind of people in the first place. .-.

[chargeo1]

forgive me, as i havent really followed the whole topic, mainly just the question and a few responces.

this is my use of the internet over the years from when i started

when the internet first came available to me as a child in elementary school: hey cool i can play games.

as time progressed into middle school: hey i can play games and meet people, i played video games professionally during this period

high school: hey a cool way to talk to people

now: hey, my job and a way to be available to talk to people yet no one ive ever talked to talks to me anymore.

basically heres my internet view and use.. in a better way to answer the question.

i have always treated the internet, as a second way of living life, because when you think about it, in this virtual world, we are connecting to real people, and bascally living the same life, in just a different manner, and in all honesty it does matter. i treat the people i know online the exact same way i talk to people in real life, and nor am i afraid to cross the two at any time because theres no difference between the internet me, and the real me, aside that fact that i tend to be a bit more open to be people over the internet, but thats only because ive always been a better writer than speaker, so i can get my points across differently and much more effectively, i talk to people i know irl on the internet quite often (at least when i had people to talk to) and the people i know over the internet i have met before in the past and will again, its not award to me at all, its just part of my life and always will be

the people you meet can become important, hell ive had a long distance relatationship that formed across the internet that i was in for over three years and loved every minute of it. so many people make it something diffrent, but in all reality its the same, it still affects you and who you are, and your feelings, even if you deny that completely.

you mentioned you can trust people easily, i always have too, its just how i am, and no ones to say thats a bad thing. but theres one major thing i want to say


life is not a matter of who we are, its a matter of the things we do and our experiences in our lives. and thats always been a fact of life well before the internet. as you mentioned over long distance you get a huge sense of that, infact, its really all you get is the experiance, so in that regard whos to say that the internet cant actually be a better source of living your life? am i saying to always sit in front of a computer? not really. but im saying that its very possible to live your life off of the people that you meet and talk to over it, i have many times and i still enjoy it to this day.

[Nucleose]

Not a problem, this is a collection of views, so it's your choice to read them or not. I'm glad you think the way you do that that I've seen all these different perspectives of what the internet is to them. I guess in a way, I wanted to see more behind the cool people I've noticed at this forum.

[chargeo1]

Not a problem, this is a collection of views, so it's your choice to read them or not. I'm glad you think the way you do that that I've seen all these different perspectives of what the internet is to them. I guess in a way, I wanted to see more behind the cool people I've noticed at this forum.

in a way we all strive to know and understand what is going on in others minds about something we are invloved with, for friends we are concerned about how they feel, and with people in family or close friends or more, we wonder if they view and feel the same about something that we do, in order to understand and feel that it is true and honest.

does that make sense?

in a way its refreshing to view these different thoughts and ideas.