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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 Best Internet Service Providers in the Best Internet Service Providers field of sociology.[7]
The Best Internet Service Providers distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication Best Internet Service Providers (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" Best Internet Service Providers is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that Best Internet Service Providers the distinctions in relationships Best Internet Service Providers are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Best Internet Service Providers and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. 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 of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it Best Internet Service Providers "impossible to Best Internet Service Providers use Best Internet Service Providers the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the Best Internet Service Providers first generation of Internet research".[7]
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes Best Internet Service Providers inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the Best Wheatgrass Juicer conventions of the desktop metaphor Best Internet Service Providers with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons Best Internet Service Providers by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting Best Internet Service Providers a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line Best Internet Service Providers store" where "All items are actual size!", Best Internet Service Providers where Best Internet Service Providers shoppers may "Take it Best Internet Service Providers home as soon as you pay for it!", and Best Internet Service Providers where Best Internet Service Providers "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
