Online socializing vs. face to face

I hear a lot about how it's such a bad thing and makes people detached and shallow...I'd have to disagree.

One...over the internet, you're a lot more free to talk about meaningful subjects, where in real life that would be considered too heavy or serious. You are also much more free to approach people. On an internet forum, if you think someone seems interesting, you can send them a PM asking if they'd like to talk. In real life, you'd be seen as very weird and unwholesome if you walked up to someone and asked 'Would you like to talk?'

Two...lots of people time isn't for everyone. You take in a lot from people when you talk face to face. Emotional expression, emotional connection from eye contact, body language. All that information can be wearing to take in. I see nothing wrong with communicating via text on a screen if you find it less overloading.

A common complaint that I hear is that online socializing isn't really socializing, that you don't genuinely connect with people. I couldn't disagree more. Almost all my "real" friends - as opposed to just people you hang out with - are people from the internet.

Thoughts?

 

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Part of the problem is that you never really know who you are talking to. I mean, that 19 year old girl from Idaho is probably a 40 stone bald man in Dundee.

 

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People usually trip themselves up if they are lying about who they are.

 

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Some people are very good about lying about themselves. Even going as far as dreaming up a life and backround more rich and colourful than their own dreary lives.

 

I met my last girlfriend through online chatting. We ended up living together. Of course she turned out to be completely insane.

 

Online chatting has its advantages, and real life socializing has its advantages.

 

Interesting, VI. But take a moment and actually read and understand what you've said in the two paragraphs immeidately following that main sentence.

I'll copy them below for everyone to read:

One...over the internet, you're a lot more free to talk about meaningful subjects, where in real life that would be considered too heavy or serious. You are also much more free to approach people. On an internet forum, if you think someone seems interesting, you can send them a PM asking if they'd like to talk. In real life, you'd be seen as very weird and unwholesome if you walked up to someone and asked 'Would you like to talk?'

Two...lots of people time isn't for everyone. You take in a lot from people when you talk face to face. Emotional expression, emotional connection from eye contact, body language. All that information can be wearing to take in. I see nothing wrong with communicating via text on a screen if you find it less overloading. ​

Now I could be completely wrong, but those two paragraphs support the argument that Internet socializing is detached and shallow ...as noted in the first sentence of your post.

You seem to be trying to argue that it's NOT detached and shallow, yet you've basically proved that it is .....detached and shallow.

However, be that as it may, the Internet is a tool to be used for many things. If a hammer works well for cracking nuts, then what the hell ...use a hammer. If an electrical cord works to tie up your sex partner for wild, passionate, enjoyable sex, then use the freak electrical cord!

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VI, if you want to use the Internet to socialize, then do so. You don't really have to make excuses for it, nor find logical reasons to do it. Just have fun and don't get so angry as you sometimes do here at Sciforums.

Me? I think socializing on the Internet, with someone that's not my friend in real life, is like fiction ....it might be fun to read, but it's still fiction. And no amount of calling it something else is going to change that fact ....it's still fiction.

Baron Max

 

Whats the freak cord? One plugged into a socket?

 

...LOL! Ahh, that was supposed to be "freakin' cord" ....which is an nice way of sayin' "fuckin' cord". Nice catch! See how Internet socializing is so shallow and detached? ...LOL!

Freak you!

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Baron Max

 

You can certainly have meaningful conversations online. However, "traditional" socializing will make you susceptible to the nonverbal communication that happens when you're having a conversation with someone. The prevalence of emoticons are proof of the importance of nonverbal communication, albeit a poor substitute.

If you ostracize yourself long enough from the "real world" and try to hold a traditional conversation, you are liable to appear "detached". Just the same, if you spend a majority of your time having face-to-face communications, you may appear "shallow" online. That's a matter of your personality and their perception, and vice versa. You could even hold a face-to-face conversation with a group of people you chat online to daily and you may not notice the difference.

As Norsefire said, there are advantages to both. And to piggyback on what BaronMax said, use what works well enough for you.

 

You're never alone with schizophrenia
-Anonymous

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
-Isaac Newton

Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.
-R. D. Lang


Oh, what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through
another man's eyes.
-William Shakespeare


"It is better to be hated for what one is, then to be loved for what one is not."
-Andre Gide

 

I mostly agree with your post, except the bold. Emoticons are hard to misinterpret.

 

Are there emoticons for some of your more angry and pissed off moments in life, VI? I mean, there have been some times here when I'm sure that if you'd had a large sword, and I'd been close to you in real life, you'd have cut my head off without much thought. Is there an emoticon for "Cuts Head Off with Large, Sharp Sword"?

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Baron Max

 

I have to agree lol. But also I used to pretend to be someone else. I quit recently when I found out that it was as addictive as smoking or drugs. I didn't make my life more interesting but more... regular. I'd probably pretending to be someone else now if I had to say any facts about my life. But, also when I find a real good friend on the internet who I told the truth (and I always do now) I can really talk to them and it's not hard at all on the internet it's a lot easier.

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Yeah, it's easier, simpler, no gamble, no real connection, ........which ultimately means that it's "shallow and detached". In real life, you have to accept the consequences of your words and actions.

Baron Max

 

Wasn't there a time when having pen-pals was a big deal? Everyone wrote to everyone, even strangers?
How is the internet different?

 

With pen-pals, few, if any, called it "socializing" nor did they try to convince others that it was the same as, or better than, real life.

Baron Max

 

oh, I've never had anyone try and convince me that 'this' is better than real life. Apparently those that do, have never had body on body sex

 

Ahh, Orly, are you confessing to posting on this thread without having read even the OP??? Shame, shame on you, Orly.

Baron Max

 

pffft, She wasn't talking about me silly.