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Re:Economists study what happens when people stop using Face... by mlang23 on Monday March 02, 2020 @06:26AM (#22463491)
When I was younger, I spent quite a lot of "active screen time" with IRC. Back then, it felt like I am connected to other people. In retrospect, it would have been far better for me if I used that time to socialize with real people IRL. If I could go back in time, I would force myself to go out and meet real people, instead of simulated friendships in a chatroom...
Re:Economists study what happens when people stop using Face... by vidarh on Monday March 02, 2020 @09:00AM (#22464465)
Having also spent lots of time on IRC, most IRC channels are very different from voice chats with a circle of close friends. Even an IRC channel with close friends is very different,because it's a much more async communication with bursts of more live interaction Vs. the continued direct interaction of a voice chat during shared gaming.

Personally what he's doing would be hopelessly exhausting to me - I'm quite introvert and the level of social interaction he's engaging in is way above my tolerance level in terms of intensity.

Re:Economists study what happens when people stop using Face... by icebraining on Monday March 02, 2020 @08:46AM (#22464340)
Yeah, but your current judgment of what would have been better is tainted by the fact that you spent a lot of time on IRC, so can you really trust it?
Re:Economists study what happens when people stop using Face... by mlang23 on Monday March 02, 2020 @09:03AM (#22464483)
Oh yeah, I can trust my assesment that real life contacts (lets call it a network) would have been more useful in the long run. I "wasted" about 10 years of my life spending time in front of a computer, as a sort of escape from the fact that I am an outsider by trade. I would have benefited a lot more if I tried to break that habit much much earlier.