Do you refer to non-Internet activities as "real life"?

originally posted by: Profusion
It's very common in my experience to label non-Internet activities "real life." Do you do that?

I do but not in real life.

The only time I used RL was when I was playing MMO's.

originally posted by: Profusion

Are you trying to claim that it's not justified for people to feel afraid and threatened when they're being cyberstalked?

No I do not think it is justified. Look around the room. Go look outside. There is literally no one bullying or stalking them.

It's so easy when you're gambling to let your emotions get the best of you. Why would you think that online gamblers would experience emotions any differently than people gambling in person? Extrapolate that to an "online relationship." Why would the feelings involved online necessarily be any different than in person? Romance is a form of gambling IMHO.

I'll give you another example. I'm a little upset at the moment because I bought a product online that I don't think I'm going to use. It's something that I don't think I can sell and it can only be used online. Part of the reason I bought it is because the company selling the product offered a money back guarantee. When I asked for my money back I was refused because the company is claiming that my reason for asking for a refund violates their return policy. After reading their return policy I realized that any reason I could think of for returning one of their products would violate their return policy. Is my anger and disappointment at this moment not real? Is it just my imagination?

A loss of funds is a real phenomenon, no matter where one is spending or gambling it.

a reply to: Profusion

Interesting winding up here.
Your post in a thread led me to a thread which led me to this thread and that's generally how my nights on ATS go.

I do refer to anything off of the internet as real life but as one of the other posters stated it is just a way to distinguish between internet and 'off line' not fantasy vs reality.

I suppose there are folks who embellish or perhaps inflate themselves online however friends that I have made and communicate with are the same online and offline. Perhaps a little bolder, at times, but certainly the same people inside.

IMO it would be very difficult to maintain an image that wasn't honest. Everything that one says on the internet is there for review/investigation and if one wanted to put the time in, if there were any cracks in the individual's story so to speak, they could be easily (IMO) discovered.

When I speak of my friends I am referring to a close circle. I have many friends but there are a few of us who are very close here and in real life.

I wonder if your initial thoughts in the OP have changed any over these months.