In December of 2019, I met a Facebook friend and I lost a Facebook friend on the same day. What does that mean? I think it's interesting because of all the talk, of all the thinking I've done about cyberspace, and now I met and lost someone in bodyspace.
I went to a funeral and celebrated a lady's life. And then, I was able to celebrate again. I met in bodyspace another woman that I only knew from cyberspace. Surprisingly, she was very like her cyberspace persona. Gregarious and outgoing, she was nice to talk to and interesting.
On the very same day, I lost someone in bodyspace that I probably knew better in cyberspace. I wonder what people will think, if I say I knew him best on Facebook? What if I said that at the funeral? It doesn't bother me too much except for the fact that people will scoff thinking it's not real. She didn't really know him. And in many ways, they are correct, but they are also incorrect.
These are new waters to navigate - cyberspace is real space, and bodyspace is also real space. It's important to keep these things paramount when dealing with people. It's different than books or movies or other fictional worlds. We can be drawn in and commiserate with people in stories, but they are not real - lol really not real. We can have actual empathy and sympathy for people lost in cyberspace because it is real.