Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
from the missed-connections-and-lost-loves dept
It's well known that flame wars and misunderstandings are common in email and IM since non-verbal cues such as physical gesturing and tone of voice are lost in the online medium. Sure, non-verbal surrogates have developed online with emoticons and IM terms like "LOL" and "heh", but these replacements have one very big difference with their offline counterparts: they are deliberate and not connected to the subconscious mind. Online affords us opportunities to foster new relationships without the drag caused by physical prejudices or inconveniences (such as distance). But, what happens when an online relationship goes wrong? As claimed in Wired News, breaking up online is different than breaking up offline. The author claims that within a few minutes, it's possible to shut off all avenues of communication. Sure, but offline, you can stop calling and avoid the common areas where you might bump into her -- exactly analogous to stopping email and avoiding the chatrooms that you both might frequent. So, although it is indeed true that online and offline relationships are different, perhaps in the break up stage, they are, in fact, the most similar. In either case, break ups always suck.
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I just assumed that meant the writer was Canadian.
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Not quite. Its less a question of what YOU might do to avoid contact and more about what the OTHER person CAN do to avoid contact. Online, blocking email and chat and such is easy, very easy. Offline, even avoiding places in common and blocking a few phone numbers (which can cost money), you also have to worry about the other person coming to YOU. How can you avoid someone who comes to your door? Its not like you have a packet filter to your block..
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