Virtual worlds

This vacation I saw the movie Tron: Legacy, a sequel to the original movie depicting the story of a computer scientist who accomplishes his dream of inserting himself physically into the world of the computer and creating a virtual world inside it. He considers this virtual world perfection, and the future of the human race, until the programs start creating themselves and turning against him. While the movie is fun science fiction, it sends a message about the increasing time today's generation spends immersed in the world of computers and the internet.

Today it seems adolescents spend almost as much time online as they do communicating verbally with each other. The online world is a key a component in the lives of users of facebook, twitter, myspace, and other social networking sites. Such sights are perhaps almost as important to them as interactions in the real world. http://mashable.com/2010/08/02/stats-time-spent-online/ Social networking has gradually increased its time slot in users' days, until it now dominates almost all other forms of communication. Perhaps future generations will slowly replace personal interactions with online activity.

Gradually we may find ourselves living in a virtual world if we let our fascination with the internet and its countless vaults of information dominate our time. And perhaps, as in Tron: Legacy, we will find ourselves living in a world seemingly desirable to begin with, but ultimately unpleasant.