Not everyone can "go for a walk, go to the pub"
Not everyone can "go for a walk, go to the pub". Second Life and the internet in general are very real ways that people with disabilities communicate and socialise. The internet is full of "real people" to socialise with.
As someone with disabilities who has been housebound, online communication is a lifeline. You might mock that and think that those experiences are somehow "less" than going to the pub (!) but I can assure you that they are every bit as rewarding as "real life" interactions. For people who cannot have visitors or cannot sustain communication with others for whatever reason, online gives them the opportunity to do so within their own time and energy.
Socialising online is not automatically "anti-social", in fact in my experience it is quite the opposite. I have trouble "waking up" because of my disability but I can assure you I am using all the chances I can in this life.
The comment above was in response to some rather condescending online responses to reports about Telstra's decision to shut down their Second Life presence and stop providing unmetered access. I can't really fault this as a commercial decision by Telstra, however that has nothing to do with the value that environments like Second Life clearly gives some people (even if a minority). This in my opinion is a positive story about technology and accessibility - just like the Queensland government's experiments with Second Life for a youth forum in 2008.
In any case, the research shows that online interaction has nothing to do with being anti-social.
