Chit-Chat: On Tuesdays Oryx and Triforce think it's Wednesday

[Nihilego]

Why not? It works for me.

Offline is where... well, everything happens. Like, everything other than chatting with people over a computer screen. I really can't explain it more simply than that. Having a good online life is amazing and I appreciate that but at the end of the day it's communication over a screen. The internet's great but it's nowhere near as important as the real world and splitting them half-and-half just seems so destructive towards what matters to me. Not saying your online life doesn't matter, but that your offline life does. Like, significantly more.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Offline is where... well, everything happens. Like, everything other than chatting with people over a computer screen. I really can't explain it more simply than that. Having a good online life is amazing and I appreciate that but at the end of the day it's communication over a screen. The internet's great but it's nowhere near as important as the real world and splitting them half-and-half just seems so destructive towards what matters to me. Not saying your online life doesn't matter, but that your offline life does. Like, significantly more.

Hmm…

I guess I was thinking of it in more of an abstract manner, to do with social life as that seems to be what we were talking about. For me, I've been one to have an urge to go out multiple times a week because I hate staying cooped up in my house, and my dad often takes me to festivals and outings and such that he works for on Fort Carson. At the same time I'm not one to hesitate from sitting on the computer for hours on end reading, forumming, and programming, so for me I thought of it as a balance in that sense. I'm not sure what you were getting at, sorry :s

 

[Nihilego]

Hmm…

I guess I was thinking of it in more of an abstract manner, to do with social life as that seems to be what we were talking about. For me, I've been one to have an urge to go out multiple times a week because I hate staying cooped up in my house, and my dad often takes me to festivals and outings and such that he works for on Fort Carson. At the same time I'm not one to hesitate from sitting on the computer for hours on end reading, forumming, and programming, so for me I thought of it as a balance in that sense. I'm not sure what you were getting at, sorry :s

Oh. I was getting at people literally throwing away their offline lives because ~the internet~. Like, proper basement dwellers, haha.

 

[Morkula]

The people you talk to online are real people, the only difference is the way of communication. I have plenty of friends offline as well, and we don't get to see each other as much as I'd like, so the main form of communication I have with them would either be Facebook or texting. So there's really not much difference in the way we communicate (IMing and texting online friends vs. texting offline friends).

I have some very dear friendships, both online and off - people that I care very deeply about - and my online friends are no less friends to me than my offline ones. So I think it's necessarily true that online friends are to be held in lower regard than offline, or that not doing so is "destructive."

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Oh. I was getting at people literally throwing away their offline lives because ~the internet~. Like, proper basement dwellers, haha.

Been there, done that. To me it's just as boring and hellish as the other without it, and I've had both. :P

Geoff, that's precisely what Khilia was getting at me with on Skype :b

 

[Oryx]

But chatting with people online certainly didn't help me any when I had to show up to an interview and banter with a hiring manager. It certainly didn't help me when I wanted to go to an event but didn't want to go alone. It certainly didn't help when I wanted to get laid. It certainly didn't help when I needed help moving. Etc etc etc, you get the picture.

That's the problem with situating a life online, or even putting undue emphasis on an online life - when it comes to the real world, where things happen and you need to have the skills necessary to deal with it, online life isn't going to really help anyone. That's why I kind of cringe when people defend it with what makes them happy, because what makes you happy in the short term doesn't always help you grow as a person in the long term.

Ignoring the difference and branding it as the same doesn't help anyone though. Just like pen pals are different from classmates are different from coworkers are different from people you go to the bar with, real life relationships are different from online and have a different effect on people.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

But chatting with people online certainly didn't help me any when I had to show up to an interview and banter with a hiring manager. It certainly didn't help me when I wanted to go to an event but didn't want to go alone. It certainly didn't help when I wanted to get laid. It certainly didn't help when I needed help moving. Etc etc etc, you get the picture.

That's the problem with situating a life online, or even putting undue emphasis on an online life - when it comes to the real world, where things happen and you need to have the skills necessary to deal with it, online life isn't going to really help anyone. That's why I kind of cringe when people defend it with what makes them happy, because what makes you happy in the short term doesn't always help you grow as a person in the long term.

Ignoring the difference and branding it as the same doesn't help anyone though. Just like pen pals are different from classmates are different from coworkers are different from people you go to the bar with, real life relationships are different from online and have a different effect on people.

Do you ever just sit back and try to enjoy life? To me the entire point of life is to be happy. At the end of the day, what else matters?

 

[Morkula]

So because I value my online friendships just as much as my offline friendships, I'm obviously never going to be successful and I'll never be able to handle myself whenever the time comes and I have to go out into the "real world" and do a job interview, or handle myself in a social situation, or acclimate into a new workplace. How will I ever survive when I become an adult?

Oh wait, I'm 25 years old and have already done those things. And done them for years. And I must have done a decent enough job of it since I've got a good job, plenty of offline friends, and close relationships with my co-workers.

My closest friends online are more than "people I chat with." They're people with whom I've developed a strong connection - some of them I've known for years, and we've been through a lot together and shared a lot of memories, good times, and bad times. They're people that I've trusted with telling things that I haven't even entrusted offline friends with, sometimes. It goes beyond just text on a computer screen. They're close personal relationships that in a few cases have even crossed over into the offline world with people I actually talk to or even meet.

 

[Oryx]

Do you ever just sit back and try to enjoy life? To me the entire point of life is to be happy. At the end of the day, what else matters?

If you spend your entire life chasing the happiness of the moment then you're going to crash and burn at a young age. That's why planning exists. Sometimes the right decision for yourself isn't the decision that gives you immediate happiness.

Of course, in this situation I'm talking about putting less emphasis on the internet for real life relationships, so if you're literally unhappy with hanging out with people in real life instead of online then there's something else going on with who you choose as friends in real life, lol.

Edit: Geez Mork I never said you weren't going to be successful. Relax. It's just the internet!

Actually I'll be done with this thread for now and let you guys settle down some because probably the best decision in the long term. :)

 

[Treecko]

I'm the sad loser who usually only goes out when needed like for school. Though I do try to do more than just sit on my computer all day. I'm going somewhere tomorrow so I'm not a complete shut-in.


I can get how having too much of an online life can affect your social skills though. I'm fairly sure I'm less social now than I was 10-12 ago years because I spend more time online than offline now. Though personally I feel more comfortable expressing myself online than in real life. I personally like my Internet friends more than my real life friends. Somehow I can be more open to them and I trust them more. So you can't say an online life doesn't help at all, or that it's completely a bad thing. There's definitely advantages and disadvantages to it though.

 

[Nick]

I'm the sad loser who usually only goes out when needed like for school. Though I do try to do more than just sit on my computer all day. I'm going somewhere tomorrow so I'm not a complete shut-in.


I can get how having too much of an online life can affect your social skills though. I'm fairly sure I'm less social now than I was 10-12 ago years because I spend more time online than offline now. Though personally I feel more comfortable expressing myself online than in real life. I personally like my Internet friends more than my real life friends. Somehow I can be more open to them and I trust them more. So you can't say an online life doesn't help at all, or that it's completely a bad thing. There's definitely advantages and disadvantages to it though.

I can sort of relate to that. I don't go out much. I usually just go out once, maybe twice a week. Right now all of my friends are away, though. They're down at the shore, one of them that stayed around moved to Florida so I'm pretty much on my own for now and I don't like that.

I hate spending so much time online. I explained this to someone earlier, but it's like I have this imaginary time limit in my mind that, if I cross it, I start to feel like a complete loser. When I was talking to this person, I limited it to PC, but it really applies to the computer as a whole. I didn't grow up with the internet. I didn't get the internet until I started high school. Before that, I was out literally every day. I was never home. I was always doing something, I was in clubs, I was in sports, I hung out with friends all the time. I played outside. After that, I just focused on the internet. And I really regret that.

I often wonder where I would be in life if I didn't get sucked into the internet. The internet has brought me a lot of people I care deeply about, but I left the internet affect me so much that I lost a lot of the friends that I already had.

 

[☆Rei☆]

I'm the sad loser that doesn't do anything but sit at his computer. Okay, I have a legitimate reason now since I'm studying x++ so I can get a real job. (My dad said if I can get well enough in x++ he'd help me get a job at his work, which isn't a job in my opinion)

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I'm the sad loser that doesn't do anything but sit at his computer. Okay, I have a legitimate reason now since I'm studying x++ so I can get a real job. (My dad said if I can get well enough in x++ he'd help me get a job at his work, which isn't a job in my opinion)

Jeez, what on earth is x++? Is it like C++ for 1337 4@X0rZ 0n $73R01dZ?

 

[☆Rei☆]

Jeez, what on earth is x++? Is it like C++ for 1337 4@X0rZ 0n $73R01dZ?

No, X++ is just a simplified way of saying "Microsoft Dynamics AX". It's syntax is more simillar to c# than c++. It's also a .NET language if I remember correctly.

 

[Crux]

Coding languages? I really need to get back around to learning php. . .

Happy 4th of July, by the way guys! Check out the tee I made, and give me your vicious input, please!

Spoiler:

 

[Oryx]

I just wanna point out that on the last page we have Oryx, Alex, and Crux...

 

[☆Rei☆]

I just wanna point out that on the last page we have Oryx, Alex, and Crux...

I am confused about what you mean by this.

 

[Oryx]

I am confused about what you mean by this.

Four letter names with a really uncommon letter as the last letter. It's almost like we're all related lmao.

 

[Crux]

Is this a thing now?
I think this is a thing now.

Good eye, cous'

 

[☆Rei☆]

Oh, this makes much more sense.