Allen,
You sound like a pretty smart, real person to me. I'm in a chair, can't drive, am pretty isolated.

Sometimes this computer offers me my only adult contact until DH comes home all tired. I can only use one hand, can't hold a book or read turning pages like that. For a price Amazon sold me a Kindle, an electronic reading device I can work with one hand. I can't imagine having MS without the technolgy devices I use. I love it. Like cold water when you're thirsty, reading again is like that to me. No, they're not like video games, I believe gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc, can all be addictive, but often when a person's addiction is gone, another fills the hole, There's a hole to be filled. Like getting MS, I believe some just have a pre-disposition towards some addictions As much as we'd like it, some things are outside our control.



kicker

What gets me about "virtual" activities and communities is that the negative tends to attract more attention than does the positive. (Wonder why that is?)

Whatever the stimulus, it's what an individual makes of it.

SecondLifre (SL) has been cited, more than one occasion, of an example of what's wrong with this or that. Bah hum-bug! It didn't create the world's ills and it also won't cure them.

However, as with most things cyber, including NT, it has its place; how it's seen depends on perspective, and that's still subjective.

Just as NT has a viable place in many people's lives, so, too, does SL (and similar).

Please see the following:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=47101

I realize that people may not have the desire or the time to read through all the links cited (within the post above). So, this one might help encapsulate:

http://www.e-patients.net/archives/2...orial_epa.html

Six days prior to her death, Karen gave her last talk in SL - to help others, once again. (And, it's a talk that DocJohn has said I may post within NT's Stroke forum; I've been a bit busy finding a new job yet will be posting it.)

My point? For all the negatives, there are also positives. Karen's legacy isn't that she spent too much time in the virtual world; it's that she used it as a bridge to help people in the Real World.

This looks familiar (and nearly verbatim):

http://forums.keeptouch.net/showthread.php?t=105445
http://www.democracyforums.com/showthread.php?t=15081

It depends on who your heroes are - freud, socrates, micky mouse, a robot, or your parents - what you will conclude is right or wrong. I would rather have someone who raised me with human love and contact than AI be my hero. Survival and fear of the unknown probably leads us to run in packs.

Every choice you make is determined by some happening in your life and probably cannot be separated from those past events - although I try to think outside the box sometimes - who's to say what that is. This could drive you nuts but who's to say what that is either. aack! Is this a test? Are robots now controlling my mind? Oh no.

Wow Bobbi you found 2 word for word posts by this same cobert!

Cobert why the cut and paste of the very same thing? This causes me to rethink what I first felt you were trying to do. Now I believe you might be parroting someone else.

I mean most people will put down what is currently on their mind, but you seem to be blanketing the net with the same err shtuff. Does this make you feel intelligent? Do you have some complexe that is causing you to question your own humanity? Are these really your own thoughts and feelings or are you copying them from somewhere?

Melody I am sorry if I have offended you in any way. I had no idea what you have gone through with games and gaming. Just remember that even though you may not think so, he is listening to you, and will be looking at your actions of love more than the words you speak

Thank you kicker

Yes I guess you can call me a smart person. This smartness really caused me a lot of trouble in the first years of school. I would read books in an hour that took most people several days to read, and this caused me to be made fun of in school. My brothers and sisters were always accusing me of making them feel stupid on purpose, which wasnt the case at all. Thank god now that we are all adults they have realized I wasnt doing it on purpose.

At 12 I was invited to be a mensa member but my father wouldnt have it, and im still not sure if that was a good thing or not. This smartness even caused me some problems with the SSA when they were determining my disability. Back in 2000 when I couldnt work anymore the welfare office put me in a welfare to work program and part of the deal was a IQ test so they could determine if you need any remedial training to get back into the workforce. Well I scored higher than anyone in the state on that test causiing the social workers to call me in and question me on why im there. They all took that test too, and I scored quite a bit higher than all of them.

I thought it was pretty funny at the time, the look on their faces was priceless LOL. But when it came time to determine disability that test came into play as to what work I could do. It was a close call to say the least LOL. That is when good medical records saved the day!!!

Although I would rather work any day of the week then be disabled.