[knox]

I've seen this being said many times - it's only the internet, it's not serious, it's not real. It got me curious.

Is it not serious, is it not real? Is it seen as a parallel world in which normal morals and laws do not apply?

Do you develop a special internet persona that is not the real you?
Are more willing to tolerate things or behave in ways you wouldn't in your normal life?
Is it hard for you to see the others you are interacting with as other human beings? What changes that detached approach, what humanizes an internet user?
Do you find yourself doing things that you think you wouldn't do offline?
Have you developed any new interests/obsessions that you wouldn't have otherwise?

Finally, do you really believe it shouldn't be seen as serious?

Isn't the internet a REAL SERIOUS part of everybody's life now?

[ploesj]

the internet should be taken seriously as a way to communicate or share things. it's a great tool to spread your ideas or work around the world and get to know visions and things you would never have seen otherwise. (i am one mouseclick away from the underground comics of the indonesion art scene, for example)

the content of the internet should be taken a bit more seriously though. the impact of false information on the people it reaches shouldn't be underestimated. also, the idea of 'everything on the internet is public property' should start to disappear, if you check sites like www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com you see how a lot of plagiarism these days results from artwork posted online, and the general idea still seems to be that if you post something online, you have no right to decide what happens with it.

as for me, i take more time to think and rephrase about what i say online,more than in real life. my online personality is not too different from who i really am anyway. i do prefer actual contact over online contact, and i don't like communicating with total strangers-i need a face, at least.

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

My internet persona gets laid a lot more.

[TheFoxBen]

I spend most of my time on the internet and some of my best friends are people I've met on the internet... so I hope it's serious !

[Glice]

I think saying 'it's only the internet, it's not real life' is a bit like the 'ironic' racism defence. In fact, it's exactly the same thing. The internet is a multi-faceted thing, and I think you're right to say that it's a huge part of our lives now; I think there's a large element of what is socially proper - just as I'd almost never call my parents cunt-towers, I'd probably not discuss my preferences for certain sorts of porn here. Elsewhere on the internet, where I consider it more appropriate, I'd be more forthcoming about it.

The problem with any social engagement (and SYG is a social engagement, given that a lot of us spend as much time here as with our fleshworld friends) is that these 'rules' (or discretely agreed-upon protocols) are not the same for everyone. 'Freedom of speech' (if such a thing exists, I personally think it's a bit of a US-based non-sequitur) isn't freedom to say whatever you want. I think most of us have a thick enough skin to ignore certain things (such as a certain person's transparent and quite funny baiting) but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be held to account for things they say.

Context is really important - if you take someone like amerikangod (if he'll excuse me mentioning him by name), he's pretty consistent in his preposterous posts - and I might be wrong to say this, but his posts are nearly always steeped in humour to the point where you don't really take them at face value. The problem is the more insidious subterfuges underlying a lot of other people's posts. There's this sense that someone saying 'I'm not racist, my best friend's [x], but [ethnic group y] just don't work for a living' - that's the sort of insidious undertones I'm talking about, where the person saying whatever is less aware of the potential ramifications of what they're saying. With the internet I think this problem is actually more pronounced - because the currency is words and pictures, rather than ephemeral speech-utterances and physical presences (intonation etc), we can constantly refer back to what someone has said. People (I'd include myself) are incredibly incautious about what they say on the internet as in 'real' life, but in real life it's a lot easier to let the odd iffy statement slide. In terms of the ethics or whatever of something said on the internet, you could easily argue that the internet makes you far more aware of the ramifications of what you're saying.

I'll stop there, I'm going to collect my thoughts and report back later, but yeah, essentially I think that the internet ought to make people more cautious about how they're presenting their self, but oddly the contrary seems to be the case.

[knox]

I guess anyone would prefer actual content over online contact, but that never changed the way I view people. The other day I was talking about how it's interesting when people post photos - they immediately seem more real.

I agree that this idea of the internet being a lawless place has to end - I just saw a local documentary the other day about kids committing suicide because of other people making fake profiles, hacking into their accounts, doing online bullying.

The Brazilian police started tracking the IP of people who posted white power bullshit (in many countries considered acceptable) and ended up finding leaders and a bunch of murderers that have committed crimes that were unsolved until then.

50% people I work with I've never seen in person.
A lot of people I meet online become my real friends.

[SONIC GAIL]

To me it is Real I do not do or say things that I would noy in real life. I try to show who I am with no lies. I try to stick with my morals. I don't want to be ashamed of something I wrote if Ryan reads it that is stupid. I try to be an open book. This is like my music community since I dont socialize much for lack of time. it is kind of also like a course in computer shit for me, because I was from the generation that just almost missed out onall this technological shit and I am still tryin to keep up with yall young folk who never had to use a typewriter and white out in college.


Great thread knoxy

[TheFoxBen]

I wholeheartedly agree with you knox.

But sometimes, in some places, with some people, the internet is just a big joke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scyGo7tkC4I

[knox]

Originally Posted by Glice

I think saying 'it's only the internet, it's not real life' is a bit like the 'ironic' racism defence. In fact, it's exactly the same thing. The internet is a multi-faceted thing, and I think you're right to say that it's a huge part of our lives now; I think there's a large element of what is socially proper - just as I'd almost never call my parents cunt-towers, I'd probably not discuss my preferences for certain sorts of porn here. Elsewhere on the internet, where I consider it more appropriate, I'd be more forthcoming about it.

The problem with any social engagement (and SYG is a social engagement, given that a lot of us spend as much time here as with our fleshworld friends) is that these 'rules' (or discretely agreed-upon protocols) are not the same for everyone. 'Freedom of speech' (if such a thing exists, I personally think it's a bit of a US-based non-sequitur) isn't freedom to say whatever you want. I think most of us have a thick enough skin to ignore certain things (such as a certain person's transparent and quite funny baiting) but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be held to account for things they say.

Context is really important - if you take someone like amerikangod (if he'll excuse me mentioning him by name), he's pretty consistent in his preposterous posts - and I might be wrong to say this, but his posts are nearly always steeped in humour to the point where you don't really take them at face value. The problem is the more insidious subterfuges underlying a lot of other people's posts. There's this sense that someone saying 'I'm not racist, my best friend's [x], but [ethnic group y] just don't work for a living' - that's the sort of insidious undertones I'm talking about, where the person saying whatever is less aware of the potential ramifications of what they're saying. With the internet I think this problem is actually more pronounced - because the currency is words and pictures, rather than ephemeral speech-utterances and physical presences (intonation etc), we can constantly refer back to what someone has said. People (I'd include myself) are incredibly incautious about what they say on the internet as in 'real' life, but in real life it's a lot easier to let the odd iffy statement slide. In terms of the ethics or whatever of something said on the internet, you could easily argue that the internet makes you far more aware of the ramifications of what you're saying.

I'll stop there, I'm going to collect my thoughts and report back later, but yeah, essentially I think that the internet ought to make people more cautious about how they're presenting their self, but oddly the contrary seems to be the case.

That's kind of like what I think. Just like in real life, there are contexts and different situations: you cannot talk about your foot fetish at work, you might wanna talk about it to your friends, but you'll talk about it if you join a foot fetish club night.

[chicka]

Just like real life some people, ideas, opinions, and data must be taken seriously and some discarded. I enjoy the fact that I can meet and talk with people all around the world as well as read newspapers and see artwork from around the world. Just like real life it takes time to know who to trust or not and all friendships developed on the internet are suspect.
Still though I've been very lucky and made a lot of friends who I first chatted with on the internet and them met in person later and found them to be trustworthy and fun to be with.

It has become such a part of our lives as well as our children that it must be taken serious.

[atsonicpark]

I wish...

My internet persona is like serial experiments lain.

[artsygrrl]

The ppl on this board know alot more about me than some of my own family members. To me it's sort of a matter of trust, whether the responses to me are positive or negative. This is something I wouldn't risk with those I see everyday in real life. So on the SYG board at least, the internet is real to me.

[atsonicpark]

TOO REaL FOR YA!

[EVOLghost]

of course it's real....I'm here now am I?.....and I am real......right? so...therefor...INTERNET IS REAL!


but seriously...I don't really hide much from here. I mean....not that there really is much to hide...I am a boring person who likes to talk about nothing.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

The internet isn't fake, it's just entirely different from meeting in person.

You're anonymous
You're not exactly faceless since you likely have a profile picture/avatar, but that's quite different from a real face
You can't get interrupted
You have time to think out what you're going to say
You can edit what you say before you say it
You don't get to hear the words leave your mouth
you have considerably less power of inflection

The same rules apply to everyone you talk to.

So it makes for people to act not like themselves. What people forget is that they are building an online personality on message boards or chat rooms and if they use the same name, people remember them. . . so things that they say ultimately do have meaning. The more your online self matures, the more it acts like your offline self.

You realize you can't just blurt out whatever comes to your mind, you realize that maybe you shouldn't share everything, and you realize that while people may not call you out in real life, they definitely will online, so you have to be a bit more restrained even.

Of course private conversations are of a completely different nature than message board conversations, and I find myself still completely far too open when I talk to the right person in private.

[Rob Instigator]

internet is as REAL as any other form of communication.

anyone who says otherwise is likely either ashamed of stuff they do or have done while on the "internet" or are looking for an easy cop-out.

when an "inappropriate" facebook post gets one fired, they can see how REAL it is.

[noisereductions]

I've always heard that "internet is serious business."

[atsonicpark]

My mom is my desktop wallpaper.

I hope I die of a malware attack to my brain.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I used to think the internet was not real.. after all, I came online in 1996 in the AOL days when that was ALL there was on the internet. The internet was not necessarily a real place at all, and in real life we all mocked and ridiculed life on the internet. Even say 5 years ago you could catch a lot of static about the internet..

but lately..

I have been thinking just the opposite!

Shit every fucking thing is on the net.

I get my world news, from the net.
I get my music, from the net.
I get find all the upcoming gigs/shows, on the net.
I build and reason with folks globally, on the net.
I read books and articles and research, on the net.
I found ALL my last and current employment, on the net.

the only thing I don't do on the net is dating, and many many other folks meet all their dates, on the net.

The Internet is realer than real these days, its actually kind of frightening. I trip out how much shit is on the internet, back in the day we would have laughed at things like finding music news or finding jobs on the internet, all there was was chat rooms..

[knox]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

internet is as REAL as any other form of communication.

anyone who says otherwise is likely either ashamed of stuff they do or have done while on the "internet" or are looking for an easy cop-out.

when an "inappropriate" facebook post gets one fired, they can see how REAL it is.

I agree.

I don't see why some people feel the need to apply different morals (or even different laws) to the internet. The morals/laws are there, they should apply to every sphere of human interaction.