The Virtual Life
CBMUSED at 5:32 pm Category: GeneralTags: blogs, cbmused, IM, living life, networking sites, online offline, virtual life
Do you have a blog? Do you MySpace? Do you network in Facebook or LinkedIn? Do you Digg It, Sumble It, Redditt, CoComment, MyBlogLog, Entrecard and Del.icio.us? Do you Twitter, Bebo, Orkut, Flickr, Friendster and hi5?
Do you blog daily? Update many times a day? Do you have multiple blogs on Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress, and host your site? Do you follow SEO on your blog? Do you read/follow the advice of probloggers? Do you seek out popular blogs just to bring comments to your site? Do you post comments on news websites? Do you get actively involved in forums?
Have you tried Joomla? Do you blog from your mobile phone? Do you have the iPhone app for your WordPress blog? Do you subscribe to multiple RSS readers? Do you have a number of email addresses through different providers? Do you cyber, IM, MSN, GChat, Skype? Do you update your networking status several times a day? Do you take and post arm-length photos of yourself? Do you upload your mobile phone videos to YouTube?
Do you write? Do you then have time to write quality posts? Do you get the inspiration from your real or online life?
Do you live life or update it as it happens?
July 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Yes.
No. No. Yes. Yes. No. No. No. Yes
No. No. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No. No.
Yes. Yes. Both
Both.
Haha…I feel as if I’m answering a questionnaire. The thing is, I do use a lot of the things that are out there. Most of the time, I try it out as a bleeding edge beta tester or before the masses hear of it. If it sticks then it stick, if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. As long as it’s relevant to what I can work with, I’ll find a use for it, but I won’t go all out for it.
It’s the same as blogging really. I love it. I have a use for it, sometimes I can even get carried away with it, but it doesn’t run my life, it’s just part of my life. Whether it be online or real, the distinction is blurred between both because of my own lifestyle. It’s not bad, it’s just how it is and it’s no different between either. I just live it and write about it. We all need an outlet somewhere, writing about it has always been mine.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Yes… 4 actually! Yes… 3 actually! Yep. Occasionally. Occasionally.
Nope. No! Yep. Yep. Some of them ;). Nope. Yep… often… and not as GBoy! Yep… often… and not as GBoy!
Yep. Not lately. Nup ( no iPhone LOL ). Yep. Ohhhh yeah. Yep… every day. No! Hell no! Not to YouTube, no.
Yep. Nope. Both. I live it… that’s what it’s there for.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:53 am
This is the blog I comment on to drive readers to my site.
Did I tell you I wrote about single mom exotic dancers and Barack HUSSEIN Obama? You should read it! Please! The fate of the world depends on my opinion!
Yeah, I hate that shit.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:01 am
The modern criterion of a life well lived, I guess, is not ACTUAL EXPERIENCES, but the QUALITY OF THE COLOR COMMENTARY of those experiences, as filtered through a virtual alter ego.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I blog for money.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Dammmmmmmn … I was wincing with every sentence you wrote. It’s like a verbal beating!!!
I have nothing else to do all day!! I need to take a real vacation away from technology!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Oh gawd… I didn’t intent this to be a multiple choice, Y/N questionnaire!!
These were more rhetorical questions, designed to provoke thought and discussion but… wow.
Kami: You do so much online! I can’t help but wonder about RL… or if you ever work or sleep!
Two things stand out for me:
1. Updating status multiple times a day. I ask to what purpose, and do people really care what others are doing all day? (Note: I don’t mean this as a derogatory question at all. I’m only trying to understand the motivation behind us.)
2. You answered yes to having the time to write quality posts as well as doing all that. There is no way on earth I could manage quality writing of any kind if I were so involved in virtual activities.
Gboy: You too??
Of course the ones that interest me are the oines you answered “not as Gboy” and the multiple blogs etc we don’t know about
but getting answers to those, I’d have better luck winning the lottery! 
Again, answering “not lately” to writing quality posts, how can you do all this, work, and find the time and ability to write well?
I live it too. I can always write about it… later
Casey: “Nice post. I’ll be right over your blog to comment.”
And that is why I like you. Nothing like pimping this unknown blog to draw in audiences to yours which is far far better than mine.
Some of that technology is somehow inevitable. I can’t see it or allowing it to run my life either. I like being in control too much.
Zen: These are very wise words from the Zen meister. I’m nodding in appreciation as I prepare to enter them into the Martini Lounge.
Peefer: I comment for money. Wanna make a deal?
EM: Oh god no! It wasn’t meant to be!
But you’ve just said it. You’re on vacation and when you have the time, why not. That’s different from having a full-time job, extra curricular activities (as you do) and a real life and making the virtual one fit in.
I once took a break from technology, twice actually. I wanted to prove that I could do it, and I did. I felt very liberated. Now I know I’m not hooked any more, except for checking email on my phone…
July 25th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Whoa, every sentence was a question… “No” to a lot of your questions.
I blog to get rid of some pent up feelings and it makes me feel better once it’s out. Plus, I love the fact that I can write anonymously.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
The thing is, I do sacrifice sleep and if I do catch up with my sleep, rest assured, I won’t be blogging (talk about priorities). The rest of it is just living life. So to answer your questions.
1. No one really cares whether I update my status or not. Just as I have no illusion that anyone really cares for what I have to say for my blog or not. I use Twitter as much as I blog simply because there are random thoughts in the day simply too short and simple to be recorded on my blog. It’s just that I want to get it out of my system, much the same as my blog. Whether people pay attention to it or not is their business.
2. I don’t look at it in terms of virtual life and real life anymore. I realized that whatever I do, online or not, is no less real, no different a motivation than I would anywhere else. I get my inspiration from both ends simply because I treat them the same way. Because of my situation right now, I have to socialize online to make up for the work I do in the real world. You just have to know what to look for and how to look at it.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
So many questions, and well, I prefer multiple choice. It would take me words than anyone would read to explain why I am here, so I think it is best I just talk about things I know the answer to. Using my own guidelines will make this comment very abbreviated. I suppose its a form of pen pal gone wild.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Almost Loved: I too enjoy the anonymity aspect of blogging, and the freedom it provides. Writing is cathartic to some people, and if you’re like me, you can probably sense it in their words.
Kami: I like my sleep too much to compromise it. Else call me grumpy Cléa!
1. That makes sense. I can relate to getting thoughts out there, like a defrag of sorts and I can see how that would work. It’s not for me though but I think I understand it better now.
2. Of course it is real and we’re dealing with real people but I have a delineation in my mind and that’s where we differ. Again quality writing and too many online activities would distract me.
Thanks for clarifying my questions.
JW: Having had a few over the school years, I can relate to the analogy of “pen pal gone wild”.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Do you live to update, or update to live?
July 25th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Yes, No, Yes, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No.
No, No, Yes, No, No, No, No, Yes, No, No, No.
No, No, No, Yes, Yes, No, Yes, Yes, No.
Yes, Sometimes, both.
I spend a lot of time on here, but it seems I largely do the same few things over and over again!
July 26th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Felix: My life continuously updates, and I live it.
Good question!
Enny: That’s what I was wondering, if it seems like it’s repetitive to update here, her, her and there. But you have a lot of No’s so it can’t be that consuming. I’d imagine it would be difficult to balance all that day in day out. For me at least, when I give priorities elsewhere.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Yikes, I feel like I should duck. I’m happy to report I didn’t know half those things you asked about. My virtual life has taken a bit of a backseat as real life is becoming a bit more demanding.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
egan: Same here, I’m not that familiar with a lot of these things. It’s amazing what we can do when we prioritise, and what comes out as a winner.