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