When Worlds Collide: Virtual Reality and the Real World

[cutthecashflow]

Although the Internet can unite us with strangers, it can divide us from friends and family. As we develop online relationships with people we don't know, we can neglect relationships with people we do not know.

Virtual reality is seductive. It can be more appealing to log onto the Net and talk to strangers than to deal with the rigors of interacting with friends and family. The Net allows us to selectivly communicate what we want when we want. We don't have to put up with people's moods and personalities. If we don't like what a "Net friend" says, we can just log-off or strike up a "conversation" with someone more to our liking at the moment. In contrast, with friends, family, and even some acquaintances, we have to put up with many dimesions of their personalities, not all of them pleasent.

Some find the Net-world so alluring that real-world reality pales by comparison. One man became "addicted" to pornography on hte Net. Each evening after work, he would ignore his wife and children and seclude himself in his home office. There he would view pornography until it was time to go to bed. Night after night, it was the same. His wife finally gave him an ultimatum: Either he stop this, or she would leave. He said that he loved her but couldn't give this up. She left, he turned on his virtual lovers.(Henslin 2006)

Do you think virtual reality can replace family, friends, networks, and neighborhoods?

Do you think that our future will see us plugged onto the Net and unplugged to family and friends.

How do you think your kids virtual life will be growing up?


And if anyone out there knows APA at all, am I supposed to cite at the beginging of the story or at the end? And if at the begining am I only to cite once througout for the same source?

~Thanks

[Ice006]

Communication has many levels. The most basic of which is the written/typed word. That's the primary means of communication over the internet. It's not real time, even in chat rooms.
Next we have voice communication (phone, for instance). Words are given new meaning with pitch, tone, hearing the 'smile' in someone's voice, laughter, sighs of lack of interest, etc.
I guess video conferencing would be the next step. It's almost as good as face to face. Sure, you can make out facial expressions, and all the pitch/tone of voice communication is there, but you can't rest your hand on someone's shoulder and give them encouragement.

If you ask me, no other means of communication stacks up to the scope and range of options available to you (not just verbal) of being next to the person you're conversing with, in real life.

I guess the next step up from that is no-holds-barred 100% truthful communication with close friends, with whom you're sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings with. The more you give of yourself, the more you learn of yourself too, I think.

I suppose the final steps would be purely physical communication, dancing, sex, etc. Can't do those online now, can we?

I could go on to say about why I feel so many people are addicted to online gaming (myself included, for a time). In brief, ego is gone, you can creat a new alias for yourself at the click of a mouse, and people are judging you on words alone, not looks, race, etc. Good idea in theory, but as I said, the written word is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to meaningful communication. I guess I could say the same about message boards, but eh, they saw me through a rough social time in high school, so I'll always have a place for them. Especially when I'm high and it's 1am and everyone else is asleep.

I think 'Virtual Reality' should only really have a place in the corporate world where time is saved because all the necessary information can be given in record time, or maybe as a backup means of communication when everyone else is busy and you have some time to kill. Because seriously, when it comes to making friends and socialising, nothing will ever compare to real life.

[FIRE!!!]

It's a pretty interesting thought, but seeing as how I'm on this site frequently, and I have a pretty active social life, I'd say I'm ok.

[WeedGuru_Flow]

Communication has many levels. The most basic of which is the written/typed word. That's the primary means of communication over the internet. It's not real time, even in chat rooms.
Next we have voice communication (phone, for instance). Words are given new meaning with pitch, tone, hearing the 'smile' in someone's voice, laughter, sighs of lack of interest, etc.
I guess video conferencing would be the next step. It's almost as good as face to face. Sure, you can make out facial expressions, and all the pitch/tone of voice communication is there, but you can't rest your hand on someone's shoulder and give them encouragement.

If you ask me, no other means of communication stacks up to the scope and range of options available to you (not just verbal) of being next to the person you're conversing with, in real life.

I guess the next step up from that is no-holds-barred 100% truthful communication with close friends, with whom you're sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings with. The more you give of yourself, the more you learn of yourself too, I think.

I suppose the final steps would be purely physical communication, dancing, sex, etc. Can't do those online now, can we?

I could go on to say about why I feel so many people are addicted to online gaming (myself included, for a time). In brief, ego is gone, you can creat a new alias for yourself at the click of a mouse, and people are judging you on words alone, not looks, race, etc. Good idea in theory, but as I said, the written word is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to meaningful communication. I guess I could say the same about message boards, but eh, they saw me through a rough social time in high school, so I'll always have a place for them. Especially when I'm high and it's 1am and everyone else is asleep.

I think 'Virtual Reality' should only really have a place in the corporate world where time is saved because all the necessary information can be given in record time, or maybe as a backup means of communication when everyone else is busy and you have some time to kill. Because seriously, when it comes to making friends and socialising, nothing will ever compare to real life.

the most basic form of communication is actualy body language,then words,then writing and then all the shite we have these days :p

VR is extensively researched by military facilities all over the world, by game developers..... soon we'll all be walking around with VR goggles on our faces going 'AHA I KILLED THOU VILE MINION SIR EVILDOER' while flailing your arms around like a madman !