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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the Best Surveys field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between Best Surveys "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction Best Surveys between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is Best Surveys virtuality, and Best Surveys "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". Best Surveys To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are Best Surveys more complex than a Best Surveys simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some Best Surveys people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, Best Surveys such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. Pro T Flash Bracket Best He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses Best Surveys of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and Best Surveys telephone and Best Surveys voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed Best Surveys by the first generation Best Surveys of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, Best Surveys however, that this Best Surveys does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced Best Ship In The Navy Michael to pre-existing off-line relationships. Best Surveys He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned Best Surveys to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, Best Surveys such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he Best Surveys states it to be Best Surveys hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be Best Surveys seen by Best Surveys people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" Best Surveys within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being Best Surveys used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather Best Ski Deals than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several Best Surveys cartoons by Best Surveys The New Yorker have satirized this. Best Surveys One includes Saint Peter asking Best Surveys for a user name and a password Best Surveys before admitting a Bogen Best Flash Bracket man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items Best Surveys are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise Best Surveys may be handled prior to purchase!". |