Overview and Thoughts

If there are any two worlds that have ever seem more intertwined than ever, it would definitely be "real life" and virtual life. Over the past month I have touched on various subjects regarding the two. So, for this blog I would like to just go over the main key points for the blogs I have written thus far. 

Distinguishing "Real" from "Virtual" - How much time do we spend in each?

In this blog I defined the two and then asked you to think about how much time you spend on and offline. Then to take a step back and realize just how intertwined “real life” and the time we spend online are. To ask yourself is this a good or bad thing? I hope you have been able to evaluate the time you spend and can now answer this question with confidence.

TMI

In my blog “TMI” I touched on how sites enable us to post and upload just about everything, allowing us to know possibly too much about our friends and vice versa on sites such as: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I find it true more everyday that having a conversation with someone it is rare that one of these three sites is not mentioned in regards in talking about someone we know as a friend or acquaintance.

Meeting new people

I refreshed our memories of sites that we can use to expand our options of friendships. I recently used Chatroulette and made a friend that I now talk to almost every day. It is nice talking to someone about what is going on in my life, especially someone from the outside you can look in and have a different perspective. For those of you who had second guesses, I say give it a chance or another chance.

How you can be there without being “there”

Webcams are becoming more used to stay in touch and they are a great way to be there without actually being somewhere in “real life”. Sites that we can use webcams on are: Skype, Oovoo, MSN, and yahoo! Messenger.

Privacy

Things to remember is that our privacy is not just offline in “real life” but equally online in our virtual life as well. Privacy is something we should pay attention to and we should learn how to protect ourselves from not just others but even ourselves. It can sometimes be hard when you are relying on others to protect your privacy, especially when our friends can post and upload things we would rather not be known, but we can do are best and try to protect it to the best of our abilities.

Delete, reactivate, delete, reactive…

With all the sites we are members of sometimes it can be overwhelming, and we sometimes debate whether or not we really need to continue our membership on sites such as: Facebook, MySpace, flickr, dating sites and so on. But rather we like it or not “real life” and virtual life will be intertwined forever more.

The internet is more than just a tool for communication

We don’t just communicate with others online but we use the internet to free up our time, whether that be spending that free time more online or in “real life”. We take classes online to free time and also go shopping. We all know though that looking at things to purchase online does not always go so quickly.

Overall, “real life” and virtual life I hope you can see is intertwined and maybe you already noticed. If so I hope you can see even more so how it is intertwined. I hope that my blog initiated conversations between you and your friends and have made you if at all more cautious of these two worlds that we weave in and out of every day. 

the internet is more than just a tool for communication

It seems that not only do we use the internet to connect to others but it helps with furthering our education and purchasing items.

Using the internet for things such as taking classes or shopping allows for more free time or sometimes less time in the real world.

How many of you have got a ticket and didn’t want to take precious time out of your day to drive over to the justice of the peace or the court house? Instead you can take care of your tickets online and if need be you can easily take defense driving online too. I think it is very convenient, especially when you can save time and use it elsewhere. However I will say, even though I like being able to take defensive driving online, I question it. Think about it, the irony of taking defensive driving online while driving is something done in the real world. But hey, it works out for our benefit, right?

Online Classes

As students we either know someone who has taken an online class, we have taken an online course or maybe there is one in the future. Online classes are nice to take; you don’t have to worry about telling your work to change your hours or changing your plans with your friend(s) (at least not drastic changes). Having virtual classes enables for more time spent doing what we would like. Sometimes if we’re not careful though we can let our work build up and then we have to spend a couple hours at a time online catching up. So splitting the time we have up wisely between the two is a must! I know that sometimes I have issues with splitting my time up between online and off.

Shopping

Where to begin? Just saying the word shopping makes me feel excited and tired all at once! I enjoy going shopping with my friends, but I hate walking from store to store or getting in and out of the car and not find what I was looking for. Shopping on the internet saves me so much time. First, I save the time I would have spent driving to and from the mall or store, second, all that walking and getting in and out the car. When I shop online, I choose the store I want type in what I’m looking for and not only do I get the size I want but I can choose the color. As fast as I got on, I’m off with my purchased items on the way. However, sometimes it doesn’t always go so smoothly or quickly. Shopping online can save time, but how many of you have ever got online to shop and notice hours have gone by? Sometimes, I have to tell myself, “Jerica, you are only buying this and that’s it!” Otherwise, the time I wanted to save from shopping in real life is spent online instead of having more time to hang out with my friends.

There are so many other things we use the internet for and I know I barley opened the envelope on this subject, but please share what you use or have used  the internet for and how it helps or has helped or vice versa.