Andy and I had an interesting conversation yesterday over lunch. The gist of it was that, when it comes to social interaction, my use of the internet is at the heart of the majority of my important relationships: either they’re created online or are nourished by online interaction. (Case in point: my family, with whom I have virtually no online interaction, feel more out of touch to me than other, more casual friends of mine; of course , there are lots of other reasons for this, but still …)

 

This was triggered by a fascinating interview with Jonathan Rosenbaum that I came across online; at one point he says, “–when people ask me today where I live, I am often tempted to say instead of Chicago, I live on the Internet.” I know how he feels. I would almost say, “I live in Chicago, online.” It’s a real place to me. I go through withdrawal when I lose online access. Whereas Andy said that, for him, the online world is more of a portal: a place he visits often but he doesn’t live there.

 

(There’ll be a post from me on Chicagoist about Jonathan Rosenbaum tomorrow.)