Have we fallen so far and is the hour so late?

@Offero
I’d like to offer you this :)

@SeventhSense That was sweet, I was kind of depressed after reading the details of the question.
@offero Your question sounds like a very good first sentence of a good book. Maybe you should write.

I have plenty of visceral experiences, they just rarely invlove people other than my wife. In my opinion, human contact is highly overrated. What’s wrong with frolicking and nonsense? Those are two things that really help me get through the day.

I love my breaks. I do not want to sit in a closet on my hour lunch break. I fluther, I read, I watch movies or tv shows on my iphone; basically, I enjoy myself.

@seventhsense might be right. Maybe you just need a hug. Either that or a big fat “stop feeling sorry for yourself and assuming everyone is like you” or a “get over yourself”. Whatever.

I go on Fluther because it’s fun and intellectually rewarding- also to assauge the fears of those who tend to overrationalize the human need for simple diversion. :^)

Online interaction should not be used to replace real life interaction, it is just another added element to life.

To me Fluther, or the web in general, is like reading a book…it’s both entertaining and a place to gain knowledge, just as books are. I enjoy it for a bit, then I crave reality. For me, in no way has it replaced real human interaction or experiences at all, and it never will. I do however believe that people who spend too much time in virtual reality (internet, TV & books), will become socially awkward over time, and that’s sad.

Funny, I’ve been thinking how Fluther gives me a chance to interact with people on a level, and with a frequency, that I rarely get to otherwise. I’m skeptical of the idea that we’re witnessing some post-modern devolution in human interchange. I hardly think that average folks centuries ago were meeting in the public squares after work to bare their souls to their fellow man. On the contrary, I’d bet that people have pretty much always kept most of humanity at arms length, psychologically speaking, only granting access to their innermost thoughts and feelings to a very select few.

To me, the popularity of forums like this is a hopeful development. By allowing us a measure of anonymity, we find the freedom to unfold something of our normally private selves in full view of hundreds of others. This can be a very healthy exercise. To someone like me who’s typically a bit reticent to express himself, doing this builds confidence and an appetite for discussion that reverberates out into our real-life interchanges.

@Harp The other day I was in a bar in Huntington Beach, Ca and I saw two people, who had come in together, sitting at the bar texting people like mad. Nary a word exchanged between them.
I did not chose to through this question out in order to offend anyone, and I don’t need a hug. I am interested in what drives people to sights like this one. The fact that seven people took the time to read my questions and answer it is interesting to me. This is an interaction that I realize would never have taken place without the world wide web.

If you had stood up in that bar and asked this question, you’d have been considered a freak. Here, no one thinks anything of it, and we’re even happy to join in. How cool is that?

We haven’t lost the need for it, this adds to it. I communicate with people I see outside of the internet plenty, but how else am I supposed to get a chance to talk to so many different people? I can talk to people in other countries, even. You don’t get a chance to communicate with so many from different places and walks of life if you just stick to the people around you where you live. It would involve traveling which isn’t always convenient for people.

@Harp
So true, it’s like oh ya the old “have we fallen so far and is the hour so late question” but nothing beats this one

I do not cry in the company broom closet!

I sob

I know what you mean – it’s American culture, not the whole world.

@cprevite – look what your “broom closet” comment brought up on the Amazon list. :^D I’m gettin’ one.