Defying reality and displaying reality, that is what the purpose of computers and the Internet is all about.   Only in this realm we call “cyberspace” can the poor escape their poorness and be on par with the super rich in a video game reality.  Through this new realm of surrealistic existence people date and potential meet others that would never have been met, thus changing the future for many.  However, the trap of this cyberspace existence is that now a individual can become trapped not in the real but the surreal world.  The question that must be answered is whether this relatively new existence is one for the good or bad of the people. 

Truth in most cases is double sided yielding neither one answer correct or the other, and in this instant that truth is most present.  Happiness can be achieved through the cyberspace existence where as that may not always be the case in the real world.  Note the consequences of losing yourself in the cyberspace world can cost you virtually everything in the real world, because success in cyberspace is never guaranteed whether that is business or a spouse.  The trouble with happiness also is that most human beings have highs and lows whether they are manic or not, and due to this there may be times when that person being content with the cyberspace world may not be content with cyberspace only to foray out into the real world to find a less than welcoming world there too.  Dangerous sounding dual depression? 

Traveling has become easier than ever in the modern age, and getting lost has equally become easier than ever also.  Usually Americans don’t travel abroad much so the issue may be lost in the United States, however, for cultures like Europe, where travel between nations is the equivalent of a New Yorker visiting New Jersey or a Texan visiting Colorado, traveling abroad is necessary and enjoyed much more often.  This Cyberspace world allows for the connected individual to research and enjoy traveling around the world for a potentially budget sized price from millionaire to a once a year fling.  If you just traveled to one new country a year and explored for two weeks that would be 30 different countries in the span of a average career to pension.   However, though traveling is easier there are many risks with the traveling abroad in nations where civil war and violence are commonplace.  A poorly informed traveler leaves the potential for much havoc to occur on a trip, yet traveling to Europe since WWII seems to pose about as much threat to a American as traveling to the supermarket in the family car. 

Indebtedness can also be linked to the Internet in large part because of the ease of expending an entire paycheck in 5 minutes of shopping or in 5 hours of shopping.  When a cyberspace world traveler enters the Internet every possible advertisement in the world is now begging for attention in every way possible, while every department story in the world is now within a click on Google.com.  Over-consumption is a plague that goes with most of the Westernized Culture, and the trouble with over-consumption can be that the plague destroys the lower classes.  The desire to have more and more without ever dealing with less leaves a spiral of descent into poverty, where “your possessions own you” <Tyler Durden in Fight Club>.  When material possessions mean more than spending time with the family a conflict arises that leaves the average citizen a slave to greed. 

As the socially acceptable view of living rises the cost of living rises equally, however, socially acceptable living and cost of living must be separated.  For a individual to live single the socially acceptable living would be to have a apartment in a less than rat ridden area, yet for the single person to do this is difficult financially.  And then the married couples generally tend to be seen as acceptable when in possession of a house, regardless of social class, and that isn’t easy on most families with houses running a average of 250 000 in the faster growing suburbs and cities. 

The cyberspace world allows for the degradation of class lines to a certain extent, however, highlights the deficiencies of the lower classes.  A simple example can be clothing bought online, and all a cyberspace savvy individual needs to do is look up some fashion information to find that if a lower class person was so inclined as to appear well to do all the tips and tricks are available now.  However, the cost comparatively for the lower class to live up to upper class expectations is much higher, since for the better to do dressing nicely just means a cut back on the caviar for a few months.  But to the user the prices also can be seen to vary from the 30-dollar price of Dockers pants at JC Penny to the 55-dollar price at some online stores.  Hence a informed less well to do individual can do decently well for themselves with patience and a little bit of a spendthrift.  Perhaps there is equality to an extent but still a large culture difference.  Although cyberspace allows the thrifty person to do on par at times through being informed, there still is the general lack of lower class individuals to do such, and patience is few individuals virtues in any country; much less cyber country. 

Investing can be researched and shows how the rich stay rich by investing where the less fortunate can’t, another nice cyberspace factoid showing the real world’s colors that have never really changed; the spin changes almost never the reality.  Rumors spread quickly whether it is the high school cheerleaders cheating on their boyfriends or cheating involved in a Presidential Election; all rumors with not a fact found to prove or disprove them.  The Internet rumor machine and people will be people, digital or not.    Could make research online to be a interesting future, and who will the fact or fiction police be in the future? 

Good or bad?  Well with a bit of common sense on spending and informing of oneself a individual could theoretically provide for a well to do lifestyle in reality through virtual reality.  Unfortunate the more common appears to be a less informed destructive approach where overspending, an escape from a run away marriage, a overnight fling, maxing out of the credit cards and insane amounts of identity theft run rampant.  A human being is a social creature by nature’s creation and with a lack of physical social connection in reality a human being can unintentionally become anti-social.  That lack for words would be less a issue if most people were to exercise a actual use of words more often, practice may not make perfect but it helps when that perfect date asks you out. 

Think about your last few appointments or your last few dates, now how many of those were made using the Internet or from a source of information on the Internet.  Odds may be you are more Internet dependant than you thought.  Figure out the effects and then decide a time limit on Internet usage, you may find that experimentation helps or hinders life.  Everyone is different so find the right median for yourself.