The other night I went to have dinner with two college classmates. We haven’t met each other for a while, so we decided to get together when one of them was coming to town for a business trip. They both checked their cellphone frequently during the dinner.

I always think it’s rude to do that during dinner or when you are with other people, but since they both were buried in the virtual world, I had to browse my cell to see what else I could do, otherwise I would seem bored.

Then I couldn’t help wondering, what’s wrong with modern people? They have their friends with them but they just don’t want to talk to people in real life, instead, they would rather go to the virtual world to talk to strangers that they know nothing about.

Technologies do change this world.

But there are advantages of online communication, too. Some people do not say what they mean in real life, but in the virtual world you do not have to lie so most people would be honest. That’s why there are so many angry people online, because they can say what they really think.

You can meet different people online, the freaky, narcissistic, crazy, mind – twisted, and of course there are talented, wise, and nice people, too.

I was in a group created by a British guy, there are a bunch of teenage girl members in it. So the conversations is always British guy-centered. Those girls are jealous of each other about how one person gets more attention of the guy and the other gets less. Sometimes it’s amusing to read their conversation because you can see the worst thing about human being. But I got bored with that really soon, this is just meaningless.

I got to know some nice friends online, too. Since I am in the translation business, online communication is very important. When I have translation problems I can resort to them and some translation groups.

If you are helpful and try to help others when you can, you got help from them, too. Especially when you can’t think of anything, other people’s advices can be very helpful. People with different background and knowledge can give you great help.

So I think online life can be like real life if you are sincere. And it is a place to relax and meet talk to different people without even going out of your room. But of course we still need to talk to people in person and be cautious of getting addicted.