One thing I have to keep reminding myself is that it's not an either/or situation. We all have real lives as well as online lives and they influence each other. I'll be thinking about someone online when I'm grocery shopping or a conversation or book that was recommended, etc. when I'm out and about. Hearing an online friend tell of trying something that would frighten me might give me courage to try it or I might have questions to ask my T that I wouldn't think of, etc.

I don't think anything outside of us is bad for us; I think how we choose to use what is in our lives; face-to-face and online can help us if we structure it that way. If we use the Internet as an excuse to keep from relating face-to-face, that's a different problem but I don't think it's the Internet's "fault" that we aren't using it in a helpful way but as a way to hide; people do that in real life too?