The term 'chronically online' has started to become more well-known. Chances are you've interacted with someone chronically online, even if you don't exactly know how to describe them.

 

The Urban Dictionary defines being chronically online as 'someone who is always on the Internet and their entire life revolves around being on the Internet.' Sound familiar?

Somebody who is chronically online tends to have a skewed sense of reality and lives in an isolated bubble in a little corner of the Internet (aka, the 3 T's: Tumblr, Twitter and Tiktok). 

This proportion of people seems to have dramatically increased during the Covid pandemic. Being isolated for such a long period of time during the national lockdowns has definitely made it easier to get sucked up into an online echo chamber with people who seem to have far too much time on their hands.

As expected, being chronically online makes you just a tad out-of-touch, which doesn't tend to translate very well in the real world - whether that be believing in crazy vaccine conspiracy theories or that using female as an adjective is no longer socially acceptable. 

And whilst of course, a lot of meaningful conversations can start online (ie. the Black Lives Matter Protests and how to be actively racist), a lot of it seems redundant and can be dangerous (looking at the raw vegans and Covid-deniers). 

So please, let's try to get out into the world and talk to people around us. Misinformation is everywhere on the Internet, and even without its influence, it's very easy to get sucked into a world of meaningless discourse.