Virtual reality closes the gap between the real world
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 15 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Social Media
I’ve read two articles recently that have made me question the distinction between the real world and the virtual one, i.e. online. I’ve always been fairly adamant that there is a clear line between the two and have implied, perhaps unjustly, that those who place too much emphasis on online friendships and online interactions miss out on much that life has to offer. But the truth is that the nature of life, and by association the way in which we interact with important people in our lives, has changed significantly over the past few years and that relationships as we (Gen X) know them are completely different from those established by Gen Y.
I am a stuffy old tradionalist as I cling to my belief that social interaction between people in a physical sense is more important (and healthier) than purely online friendships, which seem to me to be more about numbers than anything else. But an article on Big Mouth Media that reported on a study by TNS Global made me view the whole phenomenon more objectively. The study was called “Digital World, Digital Life” and was conducted across 16 countries with over 27,000 participants aged between 15 and 55 years of age. And apparently virtual friendships aren’t only commonplace among IT professionals and internet fundis, but are now the norm for a large chunk of western society.
For instance, UK citizens average 17 friends online, which is roughly 25% of their social circle, and the figures are actually higher for those aged 35-44 than those who typically constitute Gen Y. Australians, surprisingly, seem to be the most balanced, as they make an effort to actually see their online friends (40%), while Americans are only semi-balanced at 20%. And more and more people across the world are spending more and more of their leisure time online.
Which brings me to the second article that gave me pause for thought. In Read Write Web, Alex Iskold pondered the global shift from physical to digital. Iskold seems to believe that one of the main reasons for computer phobia, lack of understanding, is giving way before the increasing simplification (as well as sophistication) of all things digital. He credits Apple with a great deal of this change because they are so simple and because they work and because they behave in ways that we want and expect them to. And while Apple no doubt deserves its share of the credit, most things digital operate in much the same way – they’re easy to understand. So, the fear is gone, replaced by utter adoration and, in some cases, addiction.
For many people the real is in many ways becoming less tangible than the virtual one, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. For the first time, this stuffy old traditionalist is seeing that and vows to be far less judgmental in the future. Consider it a new year’s resolution.
