[00:00.00] Maia Szalavitz formerly a televlsion producer,now spends her time as a writer.
[00:06.27]In thls essay she explores digtal reallty and its consequences.Along the way,She compares the digital World to the'real'World
[00:16.51]acknowledging the attractions of the electronic dimension
[00:21.03]A VIRTUAL LIFE by Maia Szalavitz
[00:25.81]After too long on the Net,even a phone call can be a shock.
[00:31.22]My boyfriend's Liverpool accent suddenly becomes impossible to interpret after his easily understood words on screen;
[00:40.05]a secretary's clipped tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be.
[00:46.99]Time itself becomes fluid-hours become minutes,or seconds stretch into days.
[00:55.82]Weekends,once a highlight of my week,are now just two ordinary days.
[01:03.16]For the last three years,since I stopped working as a television producer,
[01:08.81]I have done much of my work as a telecommuter.I submit articles and edit them via email and communicate with colleagues
[01:19.31]on Internet mailing fists. My boyfriend lives in England,so much of our relationship is also computer-assisted.
[01:28.48]If I desired,I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything.I can order food, and manage my money,
[01:38.53]love and work.In fact,at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home,
[01:47.13]going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries.I watched most of the endless snow-storm of '96 on TV.
[01:57.21]But after a while,life itself begins to feel unreal.I start to feel as though I' ve become one with my machines,
[02:06.09]taking data in,spitting them back out,just another link in the Net.Others on line report the same symptoms.
[02:15.47]We start to feel an aversion to outside forms of socializing.We have become the Net critics' worst nightmare.
[02:25.01]What first seemed like a luxury,crawling from bed to computer,not worrying about hair,and clothes and face,
[02:32.82]has become a form of escape,a lack of discipline.
[02:37.23]And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction,
[02:42.82]coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.
[02:46.82]I find myself shyer,more cautious,more anxious.Or,conversely,when suddenly confronted with real live humans
[02:57.37]I get overexcited,speak too much, interrupt.I constantly worry if I am dressed appropriately,
[03:05.18]that perhaps I've actually forgotten to put on a skirt
[03:09.88]and walked outside in the T-shirt and underwear I sleep and live in.
[03:14.90]At times,I turn on the television and just leave it to talk away in the background,
[03:21.51]something that I'd never done previously. The voices of the programs are comforting,
[03:28.59]but then I'm jarred by the commercials.I find myself sucked in by soap operas,
[03:34.49]or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline," "Frontline," "Nightline,"
[03:41.86]CNN,New York 1,every possible angle of every story over and over and over,
[03:50.56]even when they are of no possible use to me.Work moves into the background.I decide to check my email.
[03:58.60]On line,I find myself attacking everyone in sight.I am bad-tempered,and easily angered.
[04:05.81]I find everyone on my mailing list insensitive,
[04:09.39]believing that they've forgotten that there are people actually reading their wounding remarks.
[04:15.63]I don't realize that I'm projecting until after I've been embarrassed by someone
[04:21.59]who politely points out that I've attacked her for agreeing with me.
[04:26.14]When I' m in this state,I fight my boyfriend as well,
[04:30.47]misinterpreting his intentions because of the lack of emotional cues given by our typed dialogue.
[04:37.55]The fight takes hours,because the system keeps crashing.I say a line,then he does,then crash! And yet we keep on,doggedly.
[04:49.65]I'd never realized how important daily routine is: dressing for work, sleeping normal hours.
[04:56.49]I'd never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company.
[05:01.14]I began to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging,
[05:07.02]why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse,crime,suicide.
[05:15.56]To restore balance to my life,I force myself back into the real world. I call people,
[05:23.03]arrange to meet with the few remaining friends who haven't fled New York City. I try to at least get to the gym,
[05:30.89]so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week. I arrange interviews for stories,
[05:37.14]doctor's appointments-anything to get me out of the house and connected with others.
[05:42.62]But sometimes being face to face is too much.
[05:46.67]I see a friend and her ringing laughter is intolerable-the noise of conversation in the restaurant,unbearable.
[05:54.87]I make my excuses and flee.I re-enter my apartment and run to the computer as though it were a place of safety.
[06:03.23]I click on the modem,the once-annoying sound of the connection now as pleasant as my favorite tune.
[06:10.13]I enter my password. The real world disappears.
[06:14.57]Language Sense Enhancement
[06:17.50]2 Read aloud the following poem
[06:20.40]Happily Addicted to the Web
[06:23.32]Doorbell rings, I'm not listening, From my mouth, drool is ghstening,I'm happy-although My parents are not
[06:33.17]Happily addicted to the Web.All night long,I sit clicking,Unaware time is ticking,There's beard on my cheek,
[06:43.93]Same clothes for a week,Happily addicted to the Web.
[06:49.34]Friends come by;they shake me,Saying, "Yo,man!
[06:54.38]Don't you know tonight's senior prom?"With a shrug,I replied, "No, man;I just discovered letterman-dot-com!"
[07:03.63]I don't phone, don't send faxes,Don't go out, don't pay taxes,Who cares if someday They drag me away?
[07:12.56]I'm happily addicted to the Web!
[07:15.80]3 Read the following quotations.Learn them by heart if you can. You might need to look up new words in a dictionary.
[07:24.66]Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all John F.Kennedy
[07:33.46]A computer does not substitute for judgment any more than a pencil substitutes for literacy.
[07:41.04]But writing without a pencil is no particular advantage. Roberts S.McNamara
[07:48.98]A computer will do what you tell it to do,but that may be much different from what you had in mind. Joseph Weizenbaum
[08:01.12]4 Read the following humorous story for fun:
[08:05.93]An illnois man left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation In Florida,
[08:12.96]His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day.
[08:18.63]When he reached his hotel,he decided to send his wife a quick email.
[08:24.40]Unfortunately,when typing her address, he missed one letter.
[08:29.68]And his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before
[08:38.79]When the grieving widow checked her mail,she took one look at the monitor
[08:44.28]let out a piercing scream,and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
[08:50.05]At the sound,her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
[08:56.61]Dearest Wife,
[08:58.49]Just got checked in.Everything prepared for arrival tomorrow.
