Is Virtual Reality A Blessing Or A Curse?

Do you or anyone else you know use any of the following?

AIM
FaceBook
MSN Live Messenger
MySpace
Skype
Twitter

...a cell phone? Text messaging? Using any of the listed above on a cell phone?

I'm sure that many of you personally use them, had used them, or at least know a handful of people who frequently uses them daily.

Technology can be a wonderful thing. However, have you ever considered what it, as in social networking sites, are really doing to us?

On 1 hand, it is quite convenient to be able to check up on what other people are doing (online or in "real life") via computers and cellphones, but on the other hand, it seems that these online communication tools (OCTs) are creating multiple subcultures.

Of the few, the one that will be discussed in this post in reference to complete dependence of online for any and all communication.

As many of you are probably aware, technology grows at an amazing rate. It opens us to communicate with people who live on the other side of the world with relative ease. However, what is it really that compels us to communicate with, for example, our friends who live maybe down the street via online?

This is not to say that OCTs are completely bad and should be banned. However, this is more in reference to those who specifically use OCTs for all forms of communication; essentially the degree of use.

Many of you will say that you don't really use OCTs in your life, but with society today and how everything is structured around technology and being able to quickly communicate is essentially demanded by everyone, it is essentially impossible to live a life without ever encountering OCT.

But what exactly is the reason why so many of use exclusively use OCTs other than it being convenient and quick? Maybe there's more of a reason why we do so.

I mean seriously think about it. It is understandable to use it to get things done quickly but to those who use it in excess might have some underlying reason that he/she is not revealing to others.

It might be for reasons of fear; fear of judgement. It would seem reasonable for someone to fear judgement from others be it their physical state of being, the clothing being worn, and other things. Is the internet essentially the cloak from society? Is the internet being used to hide their physical being and in exchange for socializing via their virtual self with their mind (i.e. the real part of the real self); the online identifier (i.e. user name) being a medium?

What do you think about this? Please comment below.