Yeah, I agree. I think the guy overstated his point at times, but he does have one.
What's interesting is that I have never seen - and probably never will see - my closest friend in person. Kind of fascinating in a way, when one thinks of it.
He lost a certain amount of credibility for me by mailing a dead rat to a friend over a text misunderstanding. That's nasty.
I used to love meeting people but now that I'm ill the Internet is a very good second best. On days when I feel really crappy it's better than face to face because it's less tiring.
I still chat to strangers at every opportunity though. A guy I was talking to in the shopping centre the other day smelt of booze but he was sober at the time. (shrugs shoulders)
I think for me it boils down to my spending too much time online. I sometimes think my real-life interpersonal skills have suffered as a result, because I don't have the luxury of editing myself. But like I said, I do think I've formed valuable friendships online. Especially other writers. So I think the online thing is both good and bad.
I really, really like you guys that I've met on our communal-love-of-reading blogs, and I know it's real because I get together on the phone and at lunch with Chris quite a bit - the very first time we got together for lunch, about a year and a half ago, it was like we'd known each other for years. Very cool.
But that may be because I don't expect the internet to do more than it can do - I still expect to use my own mind to decide who I wanna hang out with - on or off the blogs. And I work and have children and a boatload of stuff going on every day in non-blogland, like you all do. I think that's another huge difference.
I think the author of that article did have a point - but only with the kinds of people who use the internet to be THE world they inhabit, rather than a wonderful part of their already ongoing lives.
5 comments:
Yeah, I agree. I think the guy overstated his point at times, but he does have one.
What's interesting is that I have never seen - and probably never will see - my closest friend in person. Kind of fascinating in a way, when one thinks of it.
I didn't read it all but I tend not to agree.
He lost a certain amount of credibility for me by mailing a dead rat to a friend over a text misunderstanding. That's nasty.
I used to love meeting people but now that I'm ill the Internet is a very good second best. On days when I feel really crappy it's better than face to face because it's less tiring.
I still chat to strangers at every opportunity though. A guy I was talking to in the shopping centre the other day smelt of booze but he was sober at the time. (shrugs shoulders)
I think for me it boils down to my spending too much time online. I sometimes think my real-life interpersonal skills have suffered as a result, because I don't have the luxury of editing myself. But like I said, I do think I've formed valuable friendships online. Especially other writers. So I think the online thing is both good and bad.
In other news, my school money finally came.
I really, really like you guys that I've met on our communal-love-of-reading blogs, and I know it's real because I get together on the phone and at lunch with Chris quite a bit - the very first time we got together for lunch, about a year and a half ago, it was like we'd known each other for years. Very cool.
But that may be because I don't expect the internet to do more than it can do - I still expect to use my own mind to decide who I wanna hang out with - on or off the blogs. And I work and have children and a boatload of stuff going on every day in non-blogland, like you all do. I think that's another huge difference.
I think the author of that article did have a point - but only with the kinds of people who use the internet to be THE world they inhabit, rather than a wonderful part of their already ongoing lives.
Exactly, Robin. You said that a lot better than I could.
He lost a certain amount of credibility for me by mailing a dead rat to a friend over a text misunderstanding. That's nasty.
Yeah, that was mean. Really mean.
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