Online oldsters: the internet is robbing you of real life. If you're single, every second spent perusing other people's photos on Facebook is a second less to catch the eye of a gorgeous passerby in the street. If your mind-numbing job plonks you behind a computer all day, every minute spent on Facebook is a minute lost to do something about your stultifying situation. And every sensory-deprived hour spent social networking online is an hour less to savour the thrilling marvel of the living, breathing, pulsating real world.

3 Comments:

But the same could be said of any activity that causes one to engage with inanimate objects instead of living things, *even* perhaps indisputably edifying ones like reading and chess-playing. . . .

By  Anonymous, at 5:41 PM  

In a game of chess you're interacting with another person. And reading is meant to be a solitary experience; of course there are times when one will want to engage in such activities. But with Facebook and Second Life and such programs the idea is that you're connecting and interacting with other people. Yet you aren't, not really.

Perhaps it just comes down to the old real reality vs virtual reality debate. I spend a lot of time online, but I don't want to spend more time online than I need to. The things that I can do in real life I want to do in real life, not virtually.

By  Jonathan, at 5:59 PM  

I tried to use Second Life once but I couldn't figure it out at all. Facebook is fun, though - I use it just as a fun way to network with friends. It's a lot more creative than some of the other sites out there like MySpace and Bebo. However, I think that if you go online in any form (chatrooms, network sites, etc) and imagine that you're going to find your soulmate there, you're really deluding yourself. Although I have met people who have married in such a manner... but I still think it's a crazy way to look for the love of your life.

By  Bina, at 1:19 PM