How 'real' is online life to you?

[Boxerdog]

This came out pretty schizo.

Spoiler: Long ass post

My first memory of the internet was as a small kid being excited for clock day 2006.
In 2009 I used to be the most online person I knew, fast forward to 2023 I am the least online person I know, and my browsing habits haven't changed very much, if anything the more the internet became involved in the real world the less "real" it became to me.
I remember when the news would reference something related to the web or videogames and it would be a major win but now that it is super intertwined with the real world the less I care about it, since I can just talk about it on the real world with my friends. I feel that the more out of touch you are with the real world the more real it it becomes.

Browsing the internet as a kid always has been to me: Play flash games after school(which I remember fondly), memes(which are mostly retarded in retrospect) and talking to people, but the older I got I just realized I can talk to people IRL instead of randoms on the internet, when I met a couple people that were into anime IRL 90% of my conversations about it became IRL instead. And while I liked to talk to people online and see their different opinions, especially if its in something more niche in which it might be hard to find IRL people that know about it, it all just became much less important to me.
As I got older, the internet became just a winding down stress tool, Browse for a hour or 2 after a busy day, talk shit, laugh at memes, maybe see some cool art and music and off to other things that are more tangible. So in that sense it is real since it has a very real stress relief effect.

When I got older and started to just make more friends and have outside activities, the less the internet had an impact in my life, because it was simply not real, it doesn't matter if joe biden said something or if there is protests somewhere far away, that has no impact in my life or group of friends, of course is important to be informed but it doesn't *change * anything for me in the day to day, I still gotta go to work, I still talk and have fun with my friends, and I still have to deal with things that actually affect me. I think people lose their minds and spend 18 hours jacked in the web and develop all kinds of ailments through it that they have to take it as reality, especially since they spent so much time on it already and they don't really have anything else going on, so for them it is reality, because without it they have nothing.
Its like the internet its the new wine for wine moms except everybody its drunk now, because without it, what are they gonna do? They have nothing. So for them it is real as in it encompasses all aspects of their life.

I have memories from playing single player games and whatnot which I remember fondly and might shaped me when growing up, but the same could be said about the books I read or the outdoor activities I did, but online games, I remember them, but I don't remember the individual experiences I had with them other than just muscle memory, I actually think I just wasted a lot of time during my pre-teen years playing online games when I could've been doing literally anything else, I remember not wanting to practice guitar because I was really into some online games at the time, but I do not remember actually playing the games it only vague flashes and while im sure I had fun, it feels like I just wasted my time with most of them.
Some of them I have good memories of it but its mostly due to the co-op factor and the community aspect surrounding it. But even then I always thought that spending more than a couple of hours a day playing games was a waste of time, at least in single player games you are moving towards a goal or the end of a story, multiplayer games always felt a bit hollow when playing with randoms. There is always a sliver of sadness when I see somebody that has accomplished great things in a game but they don't have anything else to show for it in real life, I remember being really proud of finishing gaiares as a kid and decided that I wanted to have a really big high score in it to post in online, after countless hours I got something good and remember right after posting it thinking at the time that I just wasted my time when I could've been doing literally anything else as a 12 year old, and yet I stayed in my room playing an old game for internet cool points, it reminds of the "internet vs real life" memes, Which I take it on a very different meaning now than back then. If I could rewind time, I would just go do something outside instead.
Everybody has their winding down time but for some people I feel like its all they have and reality its not the same for them as it might be for someone else.

The internet for me is a valuable as is a Youtube video on how to fix my car is, its like having a book on how to fix every common problem you might have, however sometimes I like to do things without help, I don't want to look it up how to built my camping tent, I rather do it by myself, even if its not the optimal way to do it, the challenge is fun, and that is what's real to me, its part of the experience.

I feel like a lot of people just want to have the end result of being something or being part of something, but the internet ends up taking the experience of that something away and handing it to you, you are not a fan because you read all the books, you read the wiki page and watched some youtube videos here and there. You are now part of this sub culture because you saw other people on the internet and now you dress like them and talk like them, even though you do not have the shared experiences that made that culture exist in the first place. All of your ties to it are through something you seen in a glowing screen so for you it is real. Even though it really isn't.
So in that sense it isn't real and its actually stealing from reality to become a distorted version of it.

We used to call these people posers in the skateboarding world. You technically know about it, studied the related material and can emulate it the way people are, but you will never be part of it if you don't have the real life experiences that is shared within said culture.
Which is why when a suburban white person puts a durag and start talking like black people they see on rap videos its always weird, because its something that is fabricated based on things they have seen, but have not experienced.
Its like how A.I made things despite how realistic they can be, there is always something off about it, and you can tell its not real.
This was thing with tv too, but there was always a caveat where the things on tv are just entertainment while the internet lost that somewhere around 2014.

I do my round up every 2 days or so though my website bookmarks, check my emails, maybe use GPS to go somewhere or look a youtube video on how to bake cookies, so I think on that sense the internet its real as in it has an effect in real life, but its not real in the sense that that effect actually means anything other than a time saver or entertainment while in the toilet.
Its definitely not a substitute or even crucial to real life though, I can always just use a map or use a recipe book if the internet somehow stopped working.
I think that while it is useful, it is important to keep in mind that it might be too useful, to the point you experience nothing and just follow it.
So in that sense it would be more than real, since it has control of your reality.

 

[Effka]

I'm especially curious how the post-coof zoomers experience this, you have spent part of your formative years online having classroom experiences and hanging out with friends instead of irl and you are all absorbed by your phones. Are the memories you have of things you did online as real to you as the things you did in the real world? Is there a difference between the two or is there an overlap? How important is the digital world to you?

I hate to make this comparison as it seems done to death, but it's kinda like Lain. It's pretty fuzzy unfortunately. I can't really tell what happened during online school and what happened in real life. The online world feels just as real. I wouldn't call them friends, but people I know in the real world encouraged me to get a VR headset and thinks are even more fuzzy with that. I can't remember what conversations and things I saw happened in the real world and what happened online.

As for how important the digital world is to me, unfortunately it is very very important. People my age rarely go out to bars, parks, or other places of the like and when they do they tend to go out with a group who is rather hostile to anyone who tries to initiate conversation with their group. The only people I tend to jive with are older people, but they're all settled down for the most part. The digital world is just about the only place I can talk to people my age without a substantial barrier. I don't have any real friends due being stuck behind a screen or literal glass window foe three years.

The real me is me. Potentially a little more unrestricted and open, for better or for worse. \

Sorry if the working is a little fucked. I have been drinking.

 

[Sebastian Melmoth]

In some ways, the online world is more real to me than the physical world. Only online, and especially when enjoying the comforts of anonymity, can we give others a glimpse of what's actually behind the mask.

On the other hand, the online realm lends itself to obsessions with certain fads and ideas. These thought-worms have a bad habit of infecting the physical world, but online culture hasn't got the oomph to replace or fully rival the status quo in meatspace. When the web does manage to influence the real world it's because people (wrongly, IMO) think that both spheres are the same. It's a problem of perception.

For instance, the super vocal political contingents on Twitter speak for only a piddly minority of citizens, but because those voices are loudest on social media some of our leaders lend them a lot more credence than they otherwise would. As a result, we get people in Congress referencing memes and Twitter-politico talking points.

If one envisions the real world as a great ocean, then the internet is a thin film of oil floating on top. Sometimes, when the waters are choppy, you can't tell one layer from the other, but they are very different things at day's end.

 

[computerwrestler]

You still experience the internet as you would real life - within a stream of consciousness that requires mental effort to engage with the world around you. I still get this sinking feeling while using it though that my time might be better spent elsewhere. Almost like actively damaging myself if that makes sense so I can only use it so often.

 

[Yabba]

Only online, and especially when enjoying the comforts of anonymity, can we give others a glimpse of what's actually behind the mask.

No

Does the internet make it easier to drop the mask, yes. Is it the only way you can drop the mask, no. However, is it harder to drop the mask IRL, yes.

So how can we drop the mask IRL? Simple, you form a real close connection to someone. A connection with no lies, nor manipulation of character with one another. This is what a close relationship is. A relationship you seem to not have, if you have to use the internet to somewhat replicate it.