Miss me?
So what do you do when your online "life" gets too disconnected from your real life? I periodically get fed up with all things Internet and walk away from twitter, Facebook, LJ, or all of the above for a few days or weeks. Then when I come back it feels like I've been in a coma for a year and life has been happening and changing and going crazy without me. I can handle the fact that I've missed out on Show news or stories or the like, but then I wonder whether my flist is still around and what they've been up to and if anybody will even remember who I am or talk to me anymore. And whether I've missed something truly important or earthshaking in their lives or if it's just chatter about random thoughts and what they've had for dinner. I can't seem to get a handle on how much time to spend online: too much and I get nothing else done, get irritated with some of the trolls, or fed up with the futility of trying to keep up; too little and I feel out of touch with my friends and, frankly, the rest of the world.
::sigh:: Life is hard. :) I'm from the era when your "real" friends were people you talked to regularly on the phone or saw in person frequently enough to know what they look like. So sometimes I struggle with the concept that people I have never actually met in person, or only chat with on twitter etc. or see at conventions, can be considered "good friends". Especially when one has to be so careful nowadays on the 'Net because there are Just Plain Freaky People lurking out there everywhere, just a click of a link away. So I don't/won't share anything too personal online because who knows where it will wind up? But then I can't justify feeling like the people I deliberately don't really share with actually know me or consider me a friend. And why would anybody invest their effort in an online friendship with me when I occasionally just go MIA?
Argh.
Anyway, that's why I haven't been around for awhile. I just can't seem to find the line. But I hate feeling this out of touch, so if anybody still cares, I'm gonna try to be around a little more faithfully. Because I miss you folks and the way being here makes me feel connected, even if it's only an illusion.
::sigh:: Life is hard. :) I'm from the era when your "real" friends were people you talked to regularly on the phone or saw in person frequently enough to know what they look like. So sometimes I struggle with the concept that people I have never actually met in person, or only chat with on twitter etc. or see at conventions, can be considered "good friends". Especially when one has to be so careful nowadays on the 'Net because there are Just Plain Freaky People lurking out there everywhere, just a click of a link away. So I don't/won't share anything too personal online because who knows where it will wind up? But then I can't justify feeling like the people I deliberately don't really share with actually know me or consider me a friend. And why would anybody invest their effort in an online friendship with me when I occasionally just go MIA?
Argh.
Anyway, that's why I haven't been around for awhile. I just can't seem to find the line. But I hate feeling this out of touch, so if anybody still cares, I'm gonna try to be around a little more faithfully. Because I miss you folks and the way being here makes me feel connected, even if it's only an illusion.