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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from Best Cordless Telephone computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" Best Cordless Telephone and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in Best Cordless Telephone the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Best Cordless Telephone face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, Best Cordless Telephone and "off-line" is Best Cordless Telephone reality (e.g. real life Best Cordless Telephone or meatspace). Best Cordless Telephone Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support Best Cordless Telephone his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw Best Cordless Telephone no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as Best Cordless Telephone being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and Best Cordless Telephone 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 "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was Rate Best Ceiling Fans employed by Best Cordless Telephone the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory Best Cordless Telephone pressures to reduce the distinction Best Cordless Telephone between "on-line" and "off-line", with a Best Cordless Telephone "general Best Cordless Telephone tendency to assimilate online Best Cordless Telephone to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean Best Cordless Telephone that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing Best Cordless Telephone off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out Best Cordless Telephone Best Lawyers that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as Best Cordless Telephone their off-line counterparts), although he states it Best Cordless Telephone 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 Best Cordless Telephone by people as "rather quaint and not Best Cordless Telephone quite comprehensible" Best Cordless Telephone within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" Best Cordless Telephone concepts being used to define and to explain Best Cordless Telephone "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the Best Cordless Telephone 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 Peter asking for a user name and a password Best Cordless Telephone before Best Cordless Telephone admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers Best Cordless Telephone may "Take it Best Cordless Telephone home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be Best Cordless Telephone handled prior to purchase!". |
