The Internet Lens Effect

There are times when I feel like the world is out of sink with me, like what I see and know is so important that everyone else should make it their number one priority. It can range from the evo-creo debate to fake cures to some bit of atheism that I think is profound at the moment. It is so important to me until I talk face to face with a friend and they just look at me like I have lost my mind. Then I realize I they have no idea what I am talking about, why I am talking about it, and why am I bothering them about it.

It can be quite embarrassing.

This was happening enough times that I started to trace it back, and found it had to do with my Internet usage. Mostly my forum discussions on certain topics. I get drawn in to these long discussions where it feels like your battling with titans, and to gain any edge you research and read and learn everything you can find on the topic. It becomes the focus of your life for a while until reality splashes you in the face.

I call it the Internet Lens Effect. Where you get so involved in a topic discussion that is encompasses your world view so much that you see very little else. Where you inflate the importance of the topic to the point that it is just about all you think about.

The cure for this for me is to back down and limit my use of the forums I visit. Find more time for other activities and remember there are real people out there that don't know about the topic, or they do and they just don't care.

Nothing gets decided in a forum, remember to leave the discussion in there.