What Is Virtualism? (And Why You Should Care.)

[kashif_nazeer]

:salam2:

I hope this post finds everyone in the best of health and iman in sha' Allah : )

I have often observed the way people behave online i.e on the internet for example,say "trolling" is quite different and very disturbing at teams.It's like almost their shaytaan has been unleashed free.
I remember readng a hadith as
"One of the most evil of people is the two faced person who shows one face to some people and another face to other people." Muslim
I came across the following article,about how people develop personalities because of this,I hope it will be of some use insha'Allah and since many of us frequent internet a lot,so a reminder for me first and for everyone else in sha' Allah

What Is Virtualism? (And Why You Should Care.)


Your online vs. offline personality
Published on December 27, 2010 by Elias Aboujaoude, M.D. in Compulsive Acts

While still in medical training, I worked part-time at a small California clinic. Its owner was conscientious, kind to her patients, generous to her workers, and beloved by the community. Her email password: DoctorBitch.
Her experience is not unique. In the vast, no-holds-barred public forum of the Internet, we create alternate selves-more risqué, more assertive, more interesting-to place on display. The new characteristics we take on add up to a veritable parallel personality, an "e-personality," that is living in increasing discomfort alongside what we always thought of as our only personality. This new identity is more child-like, more impulsive, darker, and more narcissistic, and it comes alive in our emails, "tweets," texts, and choice of Facebook friends.

And given how consumed we are with "friending," texting, tweeting, or just being online, we are approaching the point where we are spending more time interacting virtually-and displaying those e-personality traits-than interacting "in person." Irrevocable damage can happen to our offline mode of operating as a result. With seemingly every bit of information immediately accessible online, we've become used to limitless convenience. Offline, though, we become impatient, entitled, and prone to distraction if confronted with the need to actually work hard to find a nugget of information. Skimming articles and Wikipedia entries, we lose the ability to read and think critically; the illusion of knowledge replaces actual mastery. We rack up Facebook friends, and, in the process, become uncomfortable interacting "live." Because of the perceived ease of finding significant others on tailored dating sites, we stop working on our relationship problems. And we do it all at the expense of our privacy, disseminating along the way valuable personal information, the loss of which can be compared to a personality hemorrhage.
With the Web and related technologies influencing every facet of contemporary life, the line between the virtual and the real is disappearing. This is leaving behind a void with uncertain rules and little restraint and a disoriented state of being I like to call "virtualism." What is virtualism? It is the uncritical embrace of virtual life and how it is leading to a world that looks more and more like a chat room, and a real life persona that increasingly resembles that of an avatar.

Source

 

[Hassan]

I hope that the opposite can be true, that the pause between typing out the words and hitting 'post' can become a time in which our better sides prevail, that we might learn in that pause to become more understanding, forgiving and patient, and perhaps, eventually, that improvement is carried into our daily lives. InshaAllah

 

[kashif_nazeer]

I hope that the opposite can be true, that the pause between typing out the words and hitting 'post' can become a time in which our better sides prevail, that we might learn in that pause to become more understanding, forgiving and patient, and perhaps, eventually, that improvement is carried into our daily lives. InshaAllah

Insha'Allah brother,Masha'Allah that is a very good advice ,perhaps our patience can come be a source of help bi'idhnillah for us.If we can pause a bit and think of consequence of the actions we make,its repercussion in short time in this world and in the long run in hereafter .