Real life (reality).html



Real life is a term referring to life in the real world. It is generally used in reference to life or consensus reality outside of an environment seen as fiction or fantasy, as on the Internet, virtual reality, dreams, novels, or movies. Online, the acronym IRL means "in real life," with the meaning "not on the Internet"¹

"Real life" can be a controversial term, as it can serve as value judgement to describe "productive" activities, like work and the support of one's family, in contrast to "unproductive" leisure activities. Indeed, outside of fictional worlds, the phrase is often used to contrast a more traditional way of living against a pejoratively depicted existence such as academic life, in a manner similar manner to the term "real world".² A person with experience in "real life" or "the real world" has experience beyond book learning.

In its use as a contrast of fictional worlds or fictional universes against the consensus reality of the reader, the term has a long history:

Authors, as a rule, attempt to select and portray types rarely met with in their entirety, but these types are nevertheless more real than real life itself.

—The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky³

In its use for differentiating personal worlds created on the Internet from "offline" life, the term naturally has a much shorter history and a more unclear future. Sociologists engaged in the study of the internet have theorized that someday a distinction between online and real life worlds may seem "quaint", noting that certain types of online activity, such as business transactions, have already made a full transition to complete legitimacy and "reality".⁴

Uses

The abbreviation RL stands for "real life". For example, one can speak of meeting in RL someone whom one has met in chat or on an Internet forum, or of an inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems". The phrase "in real life" is often similarly replaced with the acronym IRL. Some prefer the expression face-to-face, abbreviated f2f. Some internet users use the idioms face time or meatspace, which contrasts with the term "cyberspace".⁵

See also

Look up real life in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Meatspace
• Off-line
• The Matrix

References