Has Online/Phone ruined you in person?

I've recently been wondering if the amount of time I spend communicating online/IM and on the phone is having a negative effect on my communication skills 'in-person'.

I spend much, much more time communicating with people online/phone and don't really have a problem expressing myself there or even being witty and/or funny. Though, I have noticed that in-person I am not as articulate or confident, even if talking with the same people.

Has anyone else noticed this about themselves or similar problems that primarily online communicating has caused.

asl?

thanks for that well thought out response! now go back to the kids table...

So you're going to PM the nudes, then?

I'm just the opposite. My face-to-face personality long ago ruined my ability and/or desire to talk to people online or even on the phone. I can't stand either one and quickly find a way out of either situation.

I have never said LOL in real life...
But I have said brb or something to that extent.

My online persona is FAR more confident and outgoing than I am in real life....I've always been kind of an introvert - and really the whole online community thing has made it easier for me to be an introvert who can pretend to be an extrovert.

The majority of my friends don't phone each other anymore - we all IM or text...and I'm seeing that this is increasingly the case with the younger generation...My sister is 17, soon to be 18 - and when she meets new people - they don't exchange phone numbers they exchange e-mail or IM addresses.

I'd say online chat has made me more fluent and relaxed in person. The open way of communicating that IM'ing makes possible (I often feel safer disclosing more when keyboarding) seems to encourage doing the same when I meet someone in "real" life. This tends to be true with people I've chatted with online and people I haven't.

I spend a lot of time on the internet but I can still talk to people in real life. I'm kind of shy so I understand your dilemma but I force myself.

mine too....now show us your boobs

The internet has ruined everything about me.

Ok, that's not true. I've always been terrible on the phone, tons of awkward silence. In person, I tend to keep to myself, unless it's with someone I talk to on the intrawebs regularly. For some reason, I'm more comfortable around them and don't mind "being myself". Probably because I don't have a problem with that online.

But talking on the phone is still hell. I text people just to tell them to get online.

Online, I have time to think before I "speak"-type. I don't do that in real life.

Ahh, good point. If there were a backspace in real life, I'd have no problem at all.

well, why go out into the world and be ignored, when I can be ignored in here??

nope. i'd have to say, at the risk of sounding slightly snotty, that i am far funnier in person...

that said, it's not that hard; i'm not exactly known for being hilarious on here or anything...

Absolutely.

I'm way funnier online than in person.

Which says a lot about how not funny I am in person.

In person my spelling is much better.... so no.

You're not looking hard enough - I've done that already

Sometimes I say Oh-Em-Eff-Gee! But only if I'm being sarcastic. Same for ROFL, or as I like to say, Roh-ful.

As for everything else, I don't know. I'm pretty much the same person everywhere. Gregarious in large crowds where I know at least one person, but as soon as a stranger talks to me or A/S/Ls me, I get cripplingly nervous and usually clam up.

+1

exactly.

i'm horrible on the phone, and ok in person. the internet is awesome for my purposes.

There's none of the awkward tension, self-conciousness, and you get at least a bit of "Reload time" to think up a witty response, but I think girls are better in person.

When introduced to people, I habitually tell them I'm a 17 year old female from California.

Nah, I haven't gone to that extent.

I'm very quiet in person, and people usually forget that I'm there. On the internet, however, they just wish that I wasn't there.