Now I know a majority of my readers (all three of you) are also bloggers and so should be able to relate to me on this topic. I sat thinking of the future and what people would look back on and say of these times… what would they call it? We have already gone through the Dark Ages, the Iron Age, the Ice Age, the Rennaisance, and most recently the Information Age, but I think a new age has already begun (which would make the Information Age a little short-lived). It’s not that we are already out of the Age of Information… it’s more like the Age of Information has grown beyond just information sharing. I think we are in the Cyber Age. An era when our lives have extended beyond the realm of the real world and into the virtual realm. People now have virtual offices, virtual homes and even virtual relationships. The cyber world is becoming so influential in our lives that we may be entering the times of a new world order. The introverted have become virtual extroverts and the extroverts are clumsy and withdrawn in the cyber world. The geeks and the nerds have found their popularity niche and the hackers and programmers are cyber jocks complete with their own cyber groupies.

Still not exactly sure what I am talking about? Well check this… how many of you out there have a cyber life that has started to mesh with your real life? Have your cyber friends become real life friends? Have talents molded and perfected in the cyber world become invaluable in the real world? Have you found yourself attracted to someone’s personality without ever seeing them physically? Has the anonymity of the Internet given you the courage to say and do things you might not have said before? We all knew the Internet would change the world… but few predicted the effect would be this stunning or widespread. Just as machines and technology began to change the way we lived our lives (the Industrial Age), so too has the Internet and cyber space completely begun to shape the way we live.

On a more personal note, I just wish my real life would catch up with my cyber life. In my cyber life I am a virtual poet, a philosopher, a stud, an athlete, a journalist, a politician, an actor and playwright, an author, a virtual celebrity in certain communities even. In my real life I am also all of these things but to a much lesser degree. The Internet magnifies certain qualities I have in real life and brings to the fore other qualities that I had no idea I had. But I can’t help but think that maybe my cyber life stifles my real life. How much time do I spend in front of the computer that I could be spending outside in the real world? Probably alot. I appreciate the Internet for allowing me to stay in contact with family and friends and for the new found friends that I have made online. But what of the people in the real world that I am foregoing meeting because I am inside staring at a monitor?

The cyber world is certainly addicting what with the power those of us with the right knowledge can use to influence the cyber world in ways we never were able to in the real world. But I know it does not compare to the real world in any way. It’s just a shadow or pale immitation of the world around us. Just another tool for us to use. You have to be careful not to get too caught up in it, not to immerse yourself too much lest real life passes you by. One of my online associates and I were arguing the other day and he angrily told me how he had seen my life walking down Flatbush Avenue in NY and the next time he saw it he would remember to send it my well wishes. I remember laughing heartily at the words on the monitor… but he did have a point: If I concentrated half as hard on my real life as I do on my online life I just might have more to blog on… hehe there I go prioritizing my online life again.