Real life is a term usually used to denote actual human life lived by real people in contrast with the lives of fictional or fantasy characters.[1]
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On the Internet, "real life" refers to life in the real world. It generally references life or consensus reality, in contrast to an environment seen as fiction or fantasy, such as virtual reality, lifelike experience, dreams, novels, or movies. Online, the acronym "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet".[2]
When used to distinguish from fictional worlds or 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.
In its use for differentiating online personal worlds from "offline" life, the term has a much shorter history and a more unclear future, as the Internet has existed for a much shorter time. Sociologists engaged in the study of the Internet have determined that someday, a distinction between online and real-life 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".[4]
"Real life" is sometimes a controversial term, describing "productive" activities, such as working, in contrast to "unproductive" (leisure) activities. Outside of fictional worlds, the phrase is often used to compare a more traditional way of living against a pejoratively depicted existence, such as academic life, in a manner similar to the term "real world".[5] A person with experience in "real life" or the "real world" has experience beyond book learning.
The abbreviation "RL" stands for "real life". For example, one can speak of "meeting in RL" someone whom one has met in a chat or on an Internet forum. It may also be used to express an inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems". Similarly, the phrase "in real life" is often replaced with the acronym "IRL". Some prefer the expression "face-to-face", abbreviated "f2f". Some Internet users use the idioms face time or "meatspace" or "meat world", which contrasts with the term "cyberspace".[6][7] "Meatspace" has appeared in the Financial Times[8] and in science fiction literature.[9] Some early uses of the term include a post to the Usenet newsgroup austin.public-net in 1993[10] and an article in the Seattle Times about John Perry Barlow in 1995.[11] The term entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2000.[12] The terms "meatspace" and "meat world" are apparently derived originally from the science fiction novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, published in 1984. In the novel, the anti-hero of the novel, Henry Dorset Case, works as a hacker in a virtual reality data space in cyberspace (a term also coined by William Gibson in 1981) called the "Matrix". Case describes his physical body as his "meat self" and in the early mid 21st century when the novel takes place, prostitutes are described as "meat puppets". Gibson apparently derived this term from the punk rock band Meat Puppets, founded in 1980.[13]
"Real life" is also a synonym (John 6:39-40) for the Christian understanding of eternal life—the outcome of being "born anew" or "born again" mentioned in the Bible (John 3:7). In contemporary usage, it includes the notion of a favorable "abundant life" (John 10:10), leading to its use in names such as Real Life Church.[14] In this Biblical context, "real life" begins on Earth when one decides to become a Christian, continues through this life until death, then continues beyond in the presence of a divine God. Because of this overlap, it is not comparing spirit and flesh, as in ancient Greek philosophy, but rather, an integration that elevates humanity beyond this life in substance and time. Christians believe Jesus inaugurated human eternal life by his resurrection, which is commemorated at Easter.
"Real life" is also used to mean life after education or to mean adulthood or the world of adults as opposed to childhood or adolescence.
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