Mentalechoes

Ironically, after writing my last post, I actually came across a couple of online news stories about World of Warcraft addicts; the type of person that spends 16 hours a day, every day, to the exclusion of all else, playing World of Warcraft. It’s this person that actually gives the rest of us internet jocks a bad name, and for those in the know, there is a very big difference between this person, and me, and the people I have as friends, and the people I work with, and the people I cross paths with online.

I will actually admit, that people who get so sucked into a virtual reality setting (like WoW or AoC or LoTRO or EQ2), that they completely ignore anything else in their real life has a big problem. But someone spending 16 hours a day in a game, is not the equivalent of 16 hours online doing other activities. I’m someone that lives on the very bleeding edge of an internet technology lifestyle; I work in a company that operates on the very edge of internet technology and produces the latest in consumer entertainment services; most of my communication, entertainment, news all come from internet based services. In short, I am about 5 - 7 years ahead of the average joe in the burbs. For me being online means socialising; means keeping up with current events; means keeping in touch with my family back in Australia; means finding on what’s on around town; means checking out what’s latest and greatest in new stuff on the internet; and means buying those essential and luxury items from all over Europe, as I try to get the best bargain. It also means from time to time playing some games, but that represents a very small part of what I do online.

So people like me are the evolution of the cash consumer from last century. Eventually everyone is going to have a house connected 24/7 with a flow of information going in and out that will be their interaction to a new world. You can’t fight the digital future, but nor should it be demonised by pointing fingers at those fools who consciously choose to live life in a completely imbalanced way that causes themselves and others around them emotional harm.

In the end it all comes down to living a digital life in the same way you would a real one; everything in moderation, and keeping control of what you do. But just like in real life, some people just can’t do it, and so there will always be hopeless lost causes.

Don’t judge us all that way!

Andy.