How Much Second Life Is Too Much Second Life?
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Second Life is addictive.
It is. I know it. We all do… all of us who have sat in front of the monitor half hour past the time we promised ourselves that we would log out and said to ourselves ‘ten more minutes….’
I love Second Life. Educationally, socially, creatively and as a business platform, I think it’s amazing. I have met some wonderful people in world, embarked upon some great projects and made some fantastic connections thanks to SL. I have a Second Life blog (yes, this one), that I wouldn’t give up for anything. Ok, maybe for the Euromillions… but anyway!
Recently, I have had far less time in world. I’ve had like 2 hours per day during the week and very few weekends. A lot of this is owing to changes in personal circumstances that have led to my needing to commit more time to ‘real life’. Some of these changes have been bad/sad/boo stuff. But some of them have been really, really exciting changes. But anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I did not realise how addicted I was/am to Second Life until I had less time. The past few weeks have been full of adjustments, but I now feel as though I have the perfect balance. Of course, there are days I curse the fact that I don’t get enough Skylar time. But balancing Second Life with being a full time Dad to an energetic five year old and doing business in real life…. well it’s working well for me.
Fortunately, I have never been the type of person who has let RL slip for SL. My house is clean… my duties have always been taken care of and I have always made time for RL friends. Most of the people I know are like that too.
I’ll never give up Second Life completely. No way…. I have way too much hope for the potential of the platform and community alike. And I have too many people I care about in world.
But…. a question… or a thought. How much Second Life is too much? Is it when you don’t sleep because of SL? When you skip meals? When a parent neglects her children? Where’s the line? I’m curious about your opinions….
