The new dimensions that have been enabled by virtual connectivity in a globalized world is intriguing, interesting and more complex than it used to be. Let us discuss, debate....

I remember having this discussion in the 90s.
Right before the dotcom bust.

The subject is pretty wide as you worded it.
Do you have a focus for discussion in mind or are you trying to see how the discussion runs its coarse?

For instance there is now virtual reality with the hardware for immersive virtual presence.

There's virtual medicine, surgeries being done over distance.

There's the fact most people in the modern world have cell phones and can communicate anywhere they might be.

There's online gaming communities using special money.
You have bitcoin now.

There's smart TVs, smart appliances, smart cars and smart houses now.

There's online shopping worldwide.

There's drone technology now which could make virtual presence have a reality element.

Streaming TV and movies.

Downloadable music.

Storage systems for computers are now terabytes instead of megabytes.

High speed internet is commonplace. I don't know anyone who still uses a 56k modem connection.

The list of wireless devices keeps getting larger.

Or

Specifically, the education, understanding and enlightenment of people from different parts of the world nearly instantly.
Search engines like Google and websites like Wikipedia bring knowledge to anyone able to read a web page.

Or

Are you referring to the effect worldwide communication has had on human evolution, society, culture, religion and personal lives?

@Tom Since we are on "mingle2" right now, will it be wise to limit the course to human relationship, or precisely individual relationship? Wot do you suggest?

Since I never tried to find a date on the world stage I have no idea how or if that process has changed. I date locally only.

I have however, experienced human interaction in forums on the world stage.
I've been a member in a wide range of forums for years. Tho most have dried up, I'm still active in a few. Only one of which is a dating forum (M2).

I've also found live chat streams have become political podiums for a wide range of personal issues driving hostility. I won't even read youtube live chats anymore.

I've found the best personalities (worldwide) are usually found on the science forums and TV/Movie fandom forums. Tho the science forums tend to be a bit more ego driven. Dating forums seem to be a weird mix but I've found M2 seems to be one of the more stable ones (probably because the forum mods are active here).

I don't read other languages. All foreign writing is English vie translator.
Sometimes the language barrier makes discussions rough. It is pretty nice to read about other countries and their unique cultures.

One thing which stands out worldwide is the fact people are people no matter where they live. There are extremists in all cultures and religion is the driving force in most interaction. People fall in and out of love, raise children, go to work, have passion in their activities, get curious about the wold around them, complain about government, purchase goods and services and so on.

There's a higher saturation of scammers and swindlers. There's different severity of evilness and much of it gets directed at foreigners. The attitude towards the United States seems to be amplified. The ones who love the US really seem to love it. The ones who despise the US are seriously disgusted by it. Our president seems to impact our reputation negatively worldwide no matter his policies. US Americans are considered boisterous.

There are aspects of worldwide human relationships on the public stage which strangely offset personal interaction driven relationships. I've noticed some countries emulate other countries in attitude, purchasing strategies and cultural influences like TV and movies.

The world is slowly becoming a melting pot of all the different cultures and values. There's a strange disparity in 3rd world nations. It seems like 3rd world countries are being left out of the party. Yet, when people from these 'shunned' cultures do interact, they bring some of the most interesting ideas and traditions to the world.

I believe humanity is undergoing a shift from 1st world / 3rd world separation to worldwide unity because of the technology which allows for virtual and physical presence. Some countries lag behind the curve but eventually I believe the entire world will be 1st world and 3rd world will cease to exist. When this happens, world education will leap forward and we will see great scientific and social advances.

The human species is social. Society thrives on unity. Human beings are evolving towards unity. Evolution, not of the body but the mind. Communication technology is a significant factor in this 'evolution of mind' in our species.

same games, same feelings and emotions, same out comes, as with time the

games become harder.....for most autonomy is an illusion....almost a total

lack of introspection....

In general, people have become media dependent.
In some ways it can be a good thing, other ways really bad.

People's 'zone of influence' has become wider in scope. Sometimes this wider scope helps change for the better to happen. But, there's a dark side which causes people to have a wider range of stressors in their thinking.

In the past, 'zone of influence' was a limited range, basic information and directly affected people in their daily lives.

Now, 'zone of influence' is long range, everything needs the inside information.
Things which don't really need to be known are now pushed for consideration. Things which do not and are very unlikely to become personal real-world experiences.
This increases personal stress levels causing people to have greater concern for things which, in the past, never really mattered.
On top of that, you now have so-called experts adding opinions which you did not ask for. No matter the subject at hand, there are always many experts chiming in as 'authorities' on the subject. Sometimes, in conflict with each other.

It used to be, when a topic came up about something, people talked among themselves and formed their own opinions on the subject. The authority was the opinions which were real-world, closed group, real-time understanding of the subject as it directly affected you.

If you lived in Oklahoma you got media which applied to someone living in Oklahoma. Things which happened in Oregon not only never made to you, if it did, it was usually basic random interest and not a detailed accounting with experts and predictions. Individual 'scope of stress' was closer to the individual day to day lives.

On top of all that, distant events were pick and choose, not forced upon you. Many times, you had to actively seek out media concerning the rest of the world by buying national or world sourced specials.
I remember watching the nightly news when I was growing up in the 60s. You got local news for about a half hour then another half hour of world news.
The 'official news' feed was limited in scope to what would fit in the half hour time slot. If something important happened you got news updates and special coverage. The reporting stuck mainly to the facts, narrated without inflection or opinion.

Media over-exposure also saturates our daily lives in ways many no longer consider invasive.
People are told what to buy, what to wear, what to eat. Behavior, attitude, opinion, public conduct and personal values are forced upon you by people who don't know you. This over-exposure causes thinking patterns which do not have real world experience foundations.

When your real world life experiences don't match what you are taught by media influences, you start to thing "I'm doing it wrong". It increases personal stress. People will go out of their way to fit in with media influenced ideals which have little to do with the actual lives they need to lead.

I've experienced this myself in the past.
I was a stressed out mess but I was 'informed'.
One of the best things I did to relieve my stress levels was to stop watching television and listening to radio. I use adblocking software on the internet and limit my internet 'surfing'.
I 'stepped away' from media influence and I think clearer and make better decisions concerning my life as it pertains to me.
I recently hooked an antenna to my TV, I could only tolerate about 1/2 hour of "TV" till I had to shut that crap off.
I don't watch random videos or participate in 'chance to win' scams. I read the subject lines of emails then trash them without opening unless they directly affect me or are from my family or friends. I haven't listened to commercial radio in over 10 years.
If I want to read about a subject, I look it up and only read sources. I don't need a so-called expert telling me what I should think.

So, one of the 'new dimensions' of virtual connectivity is a 'loss of self'.
Personal distraction which causes one to lose focus on daily life.

From the perspective of online dating and technology ...

http://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/02/06/the-virtues-and-downsides-of-online-dating/

Who remembers videocassette dating lol

Group Zoom/video dating online has definitely increased during the last year with social distancing and lockdowns . I certainly hope video dates don’t replace the need for physical dates . I am sure not having to spend money or leave home will appeal to many men (sexist I know ).

to be fair ... I didn’t say I remembered videocassette dating .., it was mentioned in the article ..I asked who remembered it .. perhaps you do Can’t say I have ever had problems getting dates ., how about you

The very fact that the people who we interact with on virtual platforms are not available in our physical space gives us the opportunity to behave in ways we wouldn't dream of otherwise! Our knowledge of the culture and practice of societies is not proportional to our accessibility in the virtual world.

I’ve read about the Disinhibition Affect, the psychology. behind this, it’s quite fascinating.

Yes, interesting for sure! Plus, there are many threads in these forums which focus on this.

Online disinhibition effect is the lack of restraint one feels when communicating online in comparison to communicating in-person. People feel safer saying things online which they would not say in real life because they have the ability to remain completely anonymous and invisible behind the computer screen.

When I first started participating on the internet I maintained my anonymity by adopting an avatar and a personification in which I could explore different facets of my personality without jeopardizing my personal identity.

Slowly, I realized I didn't need to hide myself to protect myself. The play-acting was hard to keep up with because it was a ruse (a lie).
For me, it was just a phase I went thru as I learned how to communicate.
Many people are still in that phase of learning. Others need to keep up their personification to protect themselves. I understand this.

No virtual presence is going to be 100% honest because of the inherent nature of people and how they manifest their ego driven self-image. Even live video chats can be manufactured so to only send the image one intends. What you see and what is off-screen can be very different things. The businessman in the video conference wearing the nice suit might be sitting in pink leotards with bunny slippers (not that there is anything wrong with pink leotards and bunny slippers).

In virtual presence, truth can only be an assumption. Yet most believe it is fact. Its one of the reasons online dating fails when actual face to face encounters happen. Most of the time things are not what they seem.

@Bastet You may choose to share your observations