Real life is a phrase used originally inliterature to distinguish between thereal world andfictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and inacting to distinguish betweenactors and thecharacters they portray. It has become a popular term on theInternet to describe events, people, activities, and interactions occurring offline; or otherwise not primarily through the medium of the Internet. It is also used as a metaphor to distinguish life in a vocational setting as opposed to an academic one, or adulthood and the adult world as opposed to childhood or adolescence.[not verified in body]
When used to distinguish from fictional worlds oruniverses against theconsensus 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.
In her 1788 work,Original Stories from Real Life; with Conversations Calculated to Regulate the Affections, and Form the Mind to Truth and Goodness, authorMary Wollstonecraft employs the term in her title, representing the work's focus on a middle-class ethos which she viewed as superior to the court culture represented byfairy tales and the values of chance andluck found inchapbook stories for the poor.[2] As phrased by Gary Kelly, writing about the work, "The phrase 'real life' strengthens 'original', excluding both the artificial and the fictional or imaginary."[3]
On the Internet, "real life" refers to lifeoffline. Online, theacronym "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet".[4] For example, while Internet users may speak of having "met" someone that they have contacted viaonline chat or in anonline gaming context, to say that they met someone "in real life" is to say that they encountered them at a physical location. Some, arguing that the Internet is part of real life, prefer to use "away from the keyboard" (AFK).
Somesociologists engaged in the study of the Internet have predicted that someday, a distinction between online and offline worlds may seem "quaint", noting that certain types of online activity, such as sexual intrigues, have already made a full transition to complete legitimacy and "reality".[5]
Theinitialism "RL" stands for "real life" and "IRL" for "in real life." For example, one can speak of "meeting IRL" an online acquaintance. It may also be used to express an inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems". Some internet users use theidioms "face time" and "meatspace" in contrast with the term "cyberspace".[6][7] "Meatspace" has appeared in theFinancial Times[8] and inscience fiction literature.[9] Some early uses of the term include a post to theUsenet newsgroup austin.public-net in 1993[10] and an article inThe Seattle Times aboutJohn Perry Barlow in 1995.[11] The term entered theOxford English Dictionary in 2000.[12]
Beyond this world, in real life – a/k/a what Second Lifers refer to as "meatspace," where your body is made of flesh, not bytes…
Current meatspace coordinates, hot from the GPS receiver card in my laptop: ...
On the Internet the gloves come off and people say things they'dnever say in meat space.
Meatspace update (quick rundown on where/how to interact with net.folks in meatspace, i.e., regular events, social gatherings, restaurant hangouts, etc.)
John Perry Barlow is multitasking between cyberspace, meatspace and parentspace about as well as a mere mortal can do.
