Geoff
Lallygag Moderator
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To continue on from an earlier thread, the next topic in forum psychology/dynamics is that odd online phenomenon - Time Dilation.
Anyone noticed that in an online community like this, a week of online development can contain a year of real life development. A relationship can feel 5 years old in 5 weeks. The proceeding of a mass drama can be like an entire civilisation's-worth of excitement in but a few days. I am reminded of a mod at another site who said that they "had been a moderator for a very very long time after just a year". Yet... in a real life environment, that would just be... meh.. a while.
So... here are my thoughts why :
1. The communication environment is way faster than real life because it is "freed up". So, things develop quickly because it doesn't rely or wait for people to meet physically and go through all that stuff involving coughing, staring at fingernails... waiting for the bus to arrive. An entire conversation can spread... like wildfire... amongst the population in minutes.
2. The medium of communication is in itself way faster - one can digest through a skim reading, an entire conversation between two members in a fraction of the time it would take to sit and listen to them talk.
3. There is an expectation of a fast paced moving environment. People don't bring as many hierarchies and preconceptions with them as real life, and as a result ideas and concepts move without having to lumber past a government machine, a disbelieving populace.
4. Intuition. This one is slightly controversial, but the majority of the forum members are intuitive. Intuitives are less bound by expectations of a sequential chain of events - ideas floated without the (admittedly healthy) need to be grounded in sensory fact. As a result they move quickly, even if to no great practical aim.
Thoughts welcome! Even if to share time dilation experiences, as well as discuss the underlying mechanics
Anyone noticed that in an online community like this, a week of online development can contain a year of real life development. A relationship can feel 5 years old in 5 weeks. The proceeding of a mass drama can be like an entire civilisation's-worth of excitement in but a few days. I am reminded of a mod at another site who said that they "had been a moderator for a very very long time after just a year". Yet... in a real life environment, that would just be... meh.. a while.
So... here are my thoughts why :
1. The communication environment is way faster than real life because it is "freed up". So, things develop quickly because it doesn't rely or wait for people to meet physically and go through all that stuff involving coughing, staring at fingernails... waiting for the bus to arrive. An entire conversation can spread... like wildfire... amongst the population in minutes.
2. The medium of communication is in itself way faster - one can digest through a skim reading, an entire conversation between two members in a fraction of the time it would take to sit and listen to them talk.
3. There is an expectation of a fast paced moving environment. People don't bring as many hierarchies and preconceptions with them as real life, and as a result ideas and concepts move without having to lumber past a government machine, a disbelieving populace.
4. Intuition. This one is slightly controversial, but the majority of the forum members are intuitive. Intuitives are less bound by expectations of a sequential chain of events - ideas floated without the (admittedly healthy) need to be grounded in sensory fact. As a result they move quickly, even if to no great practical aim.
Thoughts welcome! Even if to share time dilation experiences, as well as discuss the underlying mechanics