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((short description|Phrase separating "reality" from "fantasy" or "online"))
((About||other uses|Real Life (disambiguation)|and|In Real Life (disambiguation)))
((Use dmy dates|date=February 2020))
[[File:Mary Wollstonecraft Original Stories from Real Life copy 1 object 1 - Look what a fine morning it is.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration by [[William Blake]] for Wollstonecraft's ''Original Stories'' (1791)]]

'''Real life''' is a phrase used originally in [[literature]] to distinguish between the '''real world''' and [[fictional]], virtual or idealized worlds, and in [[acting]] to distinguish between [[actors]] and the [[Character (arts)|characters]] they portray. It has become a popular term on the [[Internet]] to describe events, people, activities, and interactions occurring offline; or otherwise not primarily through the medium of the Internet. It is also used as a metaphor to distinguish life in a vocational setting as opposed to an academic one, or adulthood and the adult world as opposed to childhood or adolescence.((Citation needed|date=March 2022))

==As distinct from fiction==
When used to distinguish from fictional worlds or [[fictional universe|universe]]s against the [[consensus reality]] of the reader, the term has a long history:
((quote|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.|[[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]|''[[The Idiot]]'' (1868–69)<ref name=Dostoyevsky>((cite web |title=Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Idiot: Part IV: Chapter I |work=The Free Online Library |url= http://dostoyevsky.thefreelibrary.com/The-Idiot/4-1#real+life |access-date=6 May 2006))</ref>))

In her 1788 work, ''[[Original Stories from Real Life; with Conversations Calculated to Regulate the Affections, and Form the Mind to Truth and Goodness]]'', author [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] employs the term in her title, representing the work's focus on a middle-class ethos which she viewed as superior to the court culture represented by [[fairy tales]] and the values of chance and [[luck]] found in [[chapbook]] stories for the poor.<ref>Wollstonecraft, Mary. Original Stories from Real Life. London: Printed for Joseph Johnson, 1788. Available from Eighteenth Century Collections Online. (by subscription only) Retrieved on 13 October 2007.</ref> As phrased by Gary Kelly, writing about the work, "The phrase 'real life' strengthens 'original', excluding both the artificial and the fictional or imaginary."<ref>Kelly, Gary. ''Revolutionary Feminism: The Mind and Career of Mary Wollstonecraft''. London: Macmillan, 1992. ((ISBN|0-312-12904-1)).</ref>

== As distinct from the Internet ==
On the Internet, "real life" refers to life [[Online and offline|offline]]. Online, the [[initialism|acronym]] "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet".<ref>((cite web |title=IRL |url=http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?String=exact&Acronym=IRL |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126030639/https://www.acronymfinder.com/IRL.html |archive-date=Nov 26, 2022 |website=AcronymFinder))</ref> For example, while Internet users may speak of having "met" someone that they have contacted via [[online chat]] or in an [[online game|online gaming]] context, to say that they met someone "in real life" is to say that they encountered them at a physical location. Some, arguing that the Internet is part of real life, prefer to use "away from the keyboard" ([[wikt:AFK|AFK]]), e.g. the documentary ''[[TPB AFK|TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard]]''.

Some [[Sociology|sociologists]] engaged in the study of the Internet have predicted that someday, a distinction between online and offline 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".<ref name="Slater">((cite book |author=Slater |first=Don |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofnewmed0000unse_k5r6 |title=Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs |date=2002 |publisher=Sage Publications Inc |isbn=0-7619-6510-6 |editor=Leah Lievrouw and Sonia Livingstone |pages=533–543 |chapter=Social Relationships and Identity On-line and Off-line |url-access=registration))</ref>

===Related terminology===

The [[initialism]] "RL" stands for "real life" and "IRL" for "in real life." For example, one can speak of "meeting IRL" an online acquaintance. It may also be used to express an inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems". Some internet users use the [[idiom]]s "[[face time]]" and "meatspace" in  contrast with the term "[[cyberspace]]".<ref name="WordSpy">((cite web|url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/meatspace.asp|title=meatspace (MEET.spays) n.|date=14 November 1996|publisher=Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited|access-date=11 August 2008|work=Word Spy))</ref><ref>((cite magazine|url=http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid17440.aspx|title=Does your life suck?|last=Dodero|first=Camille|date=17 July 2006|magazine=[[The Phoenix (magazine)|The Phoenix]]|quote=Beyond this world, in real life – a/k/a what Second Lifers refer to as "meatspace," where your body is made of flesh, not bytes…|access-date=23 July 2007))</ref> "Meatspace" has appeared in the ''[[Financial Times]]''<ref>((cite web |author=Rigby |first=Rhymer |date=23 August 2006 |title=Warning: interruption overload |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d0f71fb6-3243-11db-ab06-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=4e612cca-6707-11da-a650-0000779e2340,print=yes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813224049/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d0f71fb6-3243-11db-ab06-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=4e612cca-6707-11da-a650-0000779e2340,print=yes.html |archive-date=13 August 2011 |access-date=22 October 2011 |publisher=Financial Times))</ref> and in [[science fiction]] literature.<ref>For example:

* ((cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Neal |url=https://archive.org/details/cryptonomicon00neal_0/page/529 |title=Cryptonomicon |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |isbn=0-380-78862-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cryptonomicon00neal_0/page/529 529] |quote=Current meatspace coordinates, hot from the GPS receiver card in my laptop: ... |url-access=registration))
* ((cite book |last=Stirling |first=S. M. |url=https://archive.org/details/t200smst/page/53 |title=T2: Rising Storm |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2003 |isbn=0-380-80817-X |series=T2 Series |page=[https://archive.org/details/t200smst/page/53 53] |quote=On the Internet the gloves come off and people say things they'd ''never'' say in meat space. |author-link=S. M. Stirling |url-access=registration))
</ref> Some early uses of the term include a post to the [[Usenet newsgroup]] austin.public-net in 1993<ref>((cite web|url=http://groups.google.com/group/austin.public-net/browse_thread/thread/ab22c492a3319c44/798af58d879feba0?q=meatspace&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3Dmeatspace%26start%3D0%26scoring%3Dd%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26lr%3D%26as_qdr%3D%26as_drrb%3Db%26as_mind%3D31%26as_minm%3D1%26as_miny%3D1981%26as_maxd%3D2%26as_maxm%3D3%26as_maxy%3D1996%26safe%3Doff%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#798af58d879feba0|title=Austin CyberSpace Journal #1|last=Barnes|first=Douglas|date=21 February 1993|quote=Meatspace update (quick rundown on where/how to interact with net.folks in meatspace, i.e., regular events, social gatherings, restaurant hangouts, etc.)|access-date=13 March 2008))</ref> and an article in ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' about [[John Perry Barlow]] in 1995.<ref>((cite news |last=Andrews |first=Paul |date=30 October 1995 |title=He's Trying To Build A Community On-Line – Grateful Dead Lyricist Ventures into Cyberspace |work=The Seattle Times |url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2149736&date=19951030&query=meatspace |access-date=13 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531055558/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19951030&slug=2149736 |archive-date=May 31, 2012 |quote=John Perry Barlow is multitasking between cyberspace, meatspace and parentspace about as well as a mere mortal can do.))</ref> The term entered the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in 2000.<ref>((cite news |url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=36770 |title='Lookist' Britain: the way we look inspires the new English |access-date=13 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608201449/http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=36770 |archive-date=8 June 2011 |work=[[PR Newswire]] |author=Oxford University Press |author-link=Oxford University Press |year=2011))</ref>

==See also==
((Div col|colwidth=30em))
* [[Brick and mortar business]]
* [[Face time]]
* [[Face-to-face (philosophy)|Face-to-face]]
* [[Hyperreality]]
* [[Online and offline]]
* [[Reality]]
* [[Virtual reality]]
((div col end))

==References==
((Reflist|30em))

==External links==
((Wiktionary|real life))
((wiktionary|meatspace))
*[http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/M/meatspace.html Meatspace] from the [[Jargon File]].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050525164112/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/meatspace?view=uk Meatspace] from [[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Dictionaries Online]]
*((cite web
|url = http://ask.metafilter.com/15851/Origin-of-the-term-meatspace
|title = Origin of the term meatspace?
|access-date = 2 April 2008
))
*((cite web
|url = http://www.wordspy.com/words/meatspace.asp
|title = Word Spy – meatspace
|access-date = 2 April 2008
))

((Mixed reality))
((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Real Life (Reality)))
[[Category:Internet culture]]
[[Category:Internet terminology]]
[[Category:Belief]]
[[Category:Reality]]
[[Category:Hyperreality]]
[[Category:Community building]]
[[Category:Social constructionism]]

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