Srsly, my brain was leaking out my ears

So glad to be back at the keyboard. So very glad. I had to step away temporarily to deal with feeling like crap and being stressed and not making enough artsy things.

[junk about video games and addiction]

As much as I want to talk and think about that, I'm going to do magic and resist. Magic is what I call it whenever I exercise willpower and avoid playing WoW. On this blog I like to pretend I'm more literary and cultured than a pie chart of my brain might imply.

A moment, however, to ponder scholarly-like about immersion in internet worlds. It's possible that articles have been written about this, or studies completed, but it would take me about 30 google search strings to be sure one way or the other (and I don't have much time). I wonder if, from a neurological standpoint, if there's any difference between offline interactions and online ones. (Initially I used "real-life" instead of "offline", but that tilts the scales and shows my own preconception.)

Without a doubt offline relationships and experiences are multisensory, and online ones are limited by many factors (availability of time, electricity, and access being only a few of them). But can the scientist inside my brain tell by the way I think and react and process information whether that data is coming from a computer or not? Are the parts of my brain stimulated by game-playing more active when I play a board game instead of a video game? Is the emotion-driven adrenaline rush more chemically decisive in person?

The internet is a tool, with no correct answer or use, but I don't think that just because we can't hold it in our hands means that we should consider it (or the communications it enables) less real.

A while ago I mused (here or in my head, I can't remember) about words that don't have equivalents in other languages. The train of thought took flight when I heard something about a situation or occurrence they have a word for in Japanese that we don't have in English. My feeling was that English didn't lack the word because English speakers couldn't be a part of that situation, but because it wasn't common enough for English-speakers to need to develop a word or phrase for it.

Similarly, I think that in scope of human experience, the Internet is so new that we don't have words for all the things that happen on it. And I'm not just talking about the neologisms for types of sites and actions, but there will be a new and very valid vocabulary for the kinds of relationships that are only possible in this new medium.



Something light and classic to distract myself.

Grown-Up

When I was small I tried to be taller
and now that I'm taller I want to be small
The wishing and dreaming
the stilts and the scheming
but when I'm asleep it means nothing at all.