I thought about it a lot, because I used to be a complete recluse, avoidant, loner.. growing up half a nerd I spent a lot of time living online. When I tried to go back to a more normal social life, I realized a few differences:
- online is way less intense, people assume disconnected chats, and transient random strangers coming on and off. face to face less so, if you speak to someone you don't quit all of a sudden for instance, you have to communicate more.
- physical proximity matters a lot, you don't let people you don't like close, safety reflex ? some form of subconscious emotional match ? still, if you let someone close to you in the real world it's a lot more impacting (IMO) than even the closest people you get online.
- I also feel that in real life you're naturally more social, you don't approach strangers like on a comment thread, trying to debate intense polemics out of the blue. It can happen in the street or at a bar, but most of the time people try to find nice stuff to bond around. digital makes some slightly egotistic part of us shine stronger.
It is an interesting psychological thing, online, no one is inhibited, your for yourself in your thoughts in a cozy place, so its easy to speak unfiltered.
What I found astonishing is starting playing VR ping pong against other players. Suddenly, youre no longer alone in a place, you see gestures of hand and head movement and know the other person sees yours. There is a sudden feel of presence, and the behaviour shifts. Everyone is friendly (even muted players make friendly gestures) and one can have good conversations. Really interesting and pleasant experience, which I can highly recommend, especially for the home office.
Interesting. I dismissed a lot of AR/VR due to the `simulacre` nature of it which felt really pale, fake (uncanny valley and all that) and even limited.
That said I can imagine how having a more real time feeling of someone else even virtually can suddenly change your feelings toward the moment.
- online is way less intense, people assume disconnected chats, and transient random strangers coming on and off. face to face less so, if you speak to someone you don't quit all of a sudden for instance, you have to communicate more.
- physical proximity matters a lot, you don't let people you don't like close, safety reflex ? some form of subconscious emotional match ? still, if you let someone close to you in the real world it's a lot more impacting (IMO) than even the closest people you get online.
- I also feel that in real life you're naturally more social, you don't approach strangers like on a comment thread, trying to debate intense polemics out of the blue. It can happen in the street or at a bar, but most of the time people try to find nice stuff to bond around. digital makes some slightly egotistic part of us shine stronger.