Is The Internet “Real Life”?

You could stop the flow of information and the connection to the internet with a few flips of some switches. People would go insane and the world would turn to chaos for a bit, but life would go on. I like to keep that in perspective when I post on here or hear about the big gossip circles on twitter and facebook (I do not use social media outside of this website); at its worst, the internet is just a circular feeding tank for people with similar opinions.

It is also somewhat against human nature to spend all day on the internet, failing to go outside and experience basic social interaction. Reading a book, writing an article or doing research are functions similar to what we as humans have been doing for thousands of years. Storytelling, archiving and arguments evolved into reading and writing, and researching. Unfortunately for now, the internet and technology has not caught up with the abilities of the human brain and the randomness of human activity. We are relegated to 140 (now 280!) characters for interaction and can only interface through available websites that are constrained by servers and stuff like upload/download speeds. On the internet it boils down to what you will click on next, whereas in real life there are infinite more options.

My main qualifier for the internet failing to be real life: any action we undertake online is only meant to supplement or effect an action or event in real life. All of the influence in the 2016 election would have amounted to nothing if folks did not go out and vote. Likewise, you can learn a dozen languages and teach yourself mechanical engineering but it doesn’t mean anything (outside of personal satisfaction and accomplishment) unless you go out and apply it. Truthfully, I consider the internet the greatest thing for a self-reliant, independent thinker.

Pages: 1 2