A friend of mine recently lamented on how she nearly quit blogging because she thought she “ran out of stuff to say to the world” and I disagree.
I, for one, feel lost without access to the online stuff I love and cherish; which for the most part include Email, chat, blogging, socializing on orkut (and Facebook too, now that I’ve discovered it!), participating on discussion forums, scribbling nonsense on twitter and writing comments on YouTube videos – all of which are stuff you want to say to the people who care to listen.
And in doing so, I guess we sometimes tend to forget how much of our lives is really out there in the unknown, at the whim of anyone who chooses to use it.
Friendly comments and tags aside, I’ve had my share of abuse too. I’ve had spammers trash my blog, received rude comments on everything from blog comments to news articles and video reviews; I even had unknown people question my faith.
And in having all this; we sometimes tend to get emotional over the content we sometimes need to deal with. I once blew my top over a nut who argued over the existence of God and it took me a couple of cups of tea to calm down.
YouTube’s “report abuse” section has some helpful advice though. They say you need to realize there’s life beyond the internet, and move on. And if that doesn’t help, to try staying away from the computer for a while.
In short, realize that your life online is pretty much the same as in real life – from the friends to foes, there’s plenty of people; thoughts and opinions. And yours doesn’t always go with everyone. But that doesn’t mean you have to be mum about it.
Because there really is so much to say.
Trust me.
Labels: Internet, People, Stray thoughts
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12 comments:
Talking about online living, I can't stand hatred and abusive language.
I prefer to stay away from it for obvious reasons..
You are a guy, you can afford to take risks, but I can take only calculative ones :D
@Faiza
I can't stand abusive language either. What I especially hate is when its someone I don't even know on the internet.
Oh and btw, I'm not sure I understood the part abt calculated risks...the way I see it, we all need to be careful abt stuff online.
there is so much to say..as an after thought, yes i do agree. But why are we so dependent on online living. why is there a need to live this parallel life inspite of our "real" life? do we really believe that we can make a difference by saying something online rather than saying/doing something in "reality"? or do we not have enough freedom of expression in "real" life?
I was just wondering why I have gotten into this habit of checking my mail.. say 52 times a day. wat am i holding on to? oh well.. i dont know..tell me if you do
At times i can't help but think most of the people who are out there in the web world are faceless when it comes to the real world...they seem to be lacking the confidence to face the real world and it is the anonymity that gives them courage to abuse others in the web...as i pity them i also take care to keep myself safe from those people!
but when it comes to nice, meaning ful discussions i don't care whether it comes from real world or from the net!
@a wondering mind
"why are we dependent on an online living"?
hmm, I dunno abt you but I practically work online so I guess some of us don't have much of a choice.
I wouldn't wanna think of it as a parallel life online as much as I'd like to think of it as an extension of your real life....something that's a part of it.
Its like that little puppy that jumps at you from the neighbor's house every evening when you walk home from school. When you don't see it one evening, you wonder what's wrong...this the same thing with Email.
There's nothing to hold on to as much as it is a part of your life.
@ela
One of the biggest advantages of the net is also its biggest drawback isn't it?
You can be anyone you want to be, and spineless cowards who can't lift a finger in real life hide behind masks of threats online and vandalize blogs and homepages.
On the other hand, i agree with you that some of the most meaningful discussions i've had were over a blog post as well.
Nice post :)
Well "running out of stuff to write", it happens, but that's because one starts thinking about the readers and how they have "already read all that stuff before".
But most importantly, the net's about communication and expression. It's about Freedom. After 2 years of blogging I've realised that it's futile to get worried over online people. Because Online, it's just about numbers words emoticons avatars pictures. Anyone can choose to be anything they want to be. What they really are is difficult to imagine. So why worry?
:)
P.S. Sorry for the really belated wishes, but Eid Mubarak to you!
@alok
Personally I never really thought along the lines of whether the folks who read my blog might've read it before....and that's an intetesting thought.
But I guess I've never given it much thought because I mostly write on what matters to me.
And choosing not to worry abt lame ppl online is good; but I guess we can't reduce everything to words and numbers: after all, even my bank account and online storage are just numbers and data...but it means the world to me.
And thx so much for the wishes bro!!
:-)
Me, a person totally addicted to online living. I spend half of my day online.
I don't know why I can't stop myself from connecting to the net.
So, how much time do you spend online?
@saurabh
Well I wouldn't like to think of myself as being "addicted" to the net...but being blessed with unrestricted high-speed broadband (we're talking 10Mbps high-speed!) at work; and an equally great wireless connection at home I do spend a lot of time online.
say about 4hrs a day between work items and meetings.
Interesting entry. :) I had actually written an entry recently on people's obsession with their e-lives. There is nothing wrong with "living" on the Internet (it has so much to offer!) or creating an e-life... the problem comes when people aren't able to detach themselves from their e-lives, and in the process, start losing their REAL lives to it. That's just unhealthy.
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