Cyberlife

When I was doing a social work placement at a high school in Toronto, I was counseling many girls and hearing all about relationships - friends betraying friends, dating relationships, meeting someone for the first time, etc. It was only about 2 months in that I realized that all of these relationships were happening over the internet – all the friendships and all the dating relationships. I was flabberghasted.

And yet… within 24 hours of being home from Murehwa, I was on the net – checking e-mail and checking facebook. Have you heard of facebook? It’s this site where you can go and look up old friends, and re-connect with people. I’ve been able to find old friends from elementary school and high school, and it’s been cool. I like it but part of it feels SO strange to me. I feel like I’m living my real life – praying with people in huts, sitting in the dark because of powercuts, seeing tanks and soldiers with guns all over the downtown area in case there is any open opposition to the government... and then I’m living my cyberlife where I’m interacting with people I never actually see, who are a world away - going for coffee and making real money at their jobs.

A friend of mine was telling me about this study on people who live outside of their home countries – and how they’re able to maintain their whole life back home – reading news online and using e-mail and skype, etc. You could almost retreat into a completely online world. I don’t know… I’m obviously VERY grateful for opportunities to connect with my family and friends back home. But I need to live my real life here too… so, let me get back to it.