Antisocial People on Internet Forums

Are people on internet forums less sociable in real life than the average person?

What do you think?

Personally I think that comparing forums to proper conversation is like comparing someone with no legs to Paula Radcliffe. So in general, yes.

And how much do you think you get out in comparison to before you started coming to this website?

Reply 1

AT82

It makes no difference to my life at all, I still do social stuff just as much as before. I still go out when I want.

Its just when I am at home I come on this forum.

I am very socaliable and like talking and making conversation which is why I like this forum.

Reply 2

randdom

20

I still go out as much as I used too. I am pretty sociable. I hang around with my friends and my boyfriend UKL is just a nice way to fill spare time in my day.

Reply 3

LH

15

I generally only go on UKL when I'd be doing something similarly social such as watching TV or reading.

It doesn't interfere with my life much.

Reply 4

edufly

amazingtrade

It makes no difference to my life at all, I still do social stuff just as much as before. I still go out when I want.

Its just when I am at home I come on this forum.

I am very socaliable and like talking and making conversation which is why I like this forum.

you must be at home 24/7 literally, nearly 10000 posts you have made in less than 9 months!!!!!!

Reply 5

LH

15

eddiedaboss

you must be at home 24/7 literally, nearly 10000 posts you have made in less than 9 months!!!!!!

It averages out at 44 posts per day, which isn't that much really, that many posts can be posted in one or two hours.

Reply 6

Perplexed

8

Of course, the stereotype of the average internet user is an anti-social hermit. However, technology is becoming more and more prevalent within everyday life and is more socially acceptable to belong to messageboards, visit chat rooms etc.

With topic-based forums especially, such as this, where people often visit for a specific reason, rather than to socialise isn’t anti-social in the slightest. In fact, the community part of it is secondary. The danger is using the internet to socialise. Those who do are escaping real life interaction and using messageboards as an alternative, which is clearly anti-social behaviour.

I personally see use of the web as a form of entertainment and a hobby, which is preferential to watching the utter bilge which infests television. As such, time for socialising isn’t detracted from, just as it wouldn’t be if I for example, took up pigeon fancying.

Reply 7

~ o ~

2

I only use the internet when I don't have much else on - so I doubt that it is intefering with my social life.

Reply 8

icklehc

1

i come on here when im not out or doing anything in particular
its nice to be able to come on a forum and talk about random topics with people you dont know.
chit chat with friends is ok on a night out but sometimes its nice to hear the opinions of a wide variety of people u dont know.
duznt make me any less sociable ?!
im still gona go to the pub n get wasted on fri nite :biggrin:

Reply 9

edufly

icklehc

i come on here when im not out or doing anything in particular
its nice to be able to come on a forum and talk about random topics with people you dont know.
chit chat with friends is ok on a night out but sometimes its nice to hear the opinions of a wide variety of people u dont know.
duznt make me any less sociable ?!
im still gona go to the pub n get wasted on fri nite :biggrin:

lol yeh i agree with all that

Reply 10

icklehc

1

eddiedaboss

lol yeh i agree with all that

good! im not alone in my views :tongue:

Reply 11

edufly

icklehc

good! im not alone in my views :tongue:

maybe get wasted on the sat nite tho

Reply 12

icklehc

1

eddiedaboss

maybe get wasted on the sat nite tho

lol both wud b best i feel :tongue:

Reply 13

edufly

icklehc

lol both wud b best i feel :tongue:

thro in the sunday nite while ur at it :wink:

Reply 14

Weejimmie

1

mik1a

Are people on internet forums less sociable in real life than the average person?

Aren't forums part of real life anyway?

Personally I think that comparing forums to proper conversation is like comparing someone with no legs to Paula Radcliffe. So in general, yes.

Please explain and justify your comparison. Forums aren't proper conversation. in proper conversation we have to listen to bores or subjects we don't care about, here we ignore them. On the other hand, we encounter people and opinions here that we would not go near otherwise. There is a great difference between this and "real life". Because it's written someone lik me- I'm partly deaf- can communicate with and understand other people much more easily.

And how much do you think you get out in comparison to before you started coming to this website?

See above

Reply 15

me!

8

Everyone uses msn, even if you don't think they would, they do

Reply 16

theaman

1

me!

Everyone uses msn, even if you don't think they would, they do

And that includes some celebrities.......

Reply 17

Chubb

2

I have to agree with everyone else - this doesn't really make a difference to me. If anyhting it makes me more sociable because I often arange to go places with people via MSN & while I'm doing that I'm on this.

Reply 18

john !!

OP

14

Please explain and justify your comparison. Forums aren't proper conversation. in proper conversation we have to listen to bores or subjects we don't care about, here we ignore them. On the other hand, we encounter people and opinions here that we would not go near otherwise. There is a great difference between this and "real life". Because it's written someone lik me- I'm partly deaf- can communicate with and understand other people much more easily.

No offence, but if in what you call proper conversation you have to listen to "bores or subjects we don't care about" then maybe you should get more interesting friends? If I was listening to something I didn't care about, I'd stop listening. Same on here. So that point doesn't really apply to me.

No one says that internet forums are better than talking in real life because in real life you don't have a choice what you are talking about.

Basically I'm saying that it's a lot better to talk in real life than on here. Some reasons:

1. There's a lot more information going across... to log a spoken conversation on a computer would mean losing so much information - you lose things like expressions, changes in tone etc. which leads to using things like :smile:

and

. Let's face it, these small images aren't as good as the real thing...

2. You don't KNOW who you're talking to. To me, you could be a 10 year old girl with no legs or a convicted paedophile from Alaska.

3. People say things they would never say in real life on an internet forum. It's not a true reflection of what a person is like, because there is a lack of consequences on here. You can act funny, annoying, stupid, arrogant or anything for some entertainment to see how people react because there's nothing they can do once you log off. In real life, hardly anyone does this because they care a lot more about who they're talking to.

Also, I keep saying real life because that's what it is. This forum is a simulation of real life, a substitute.