I had an interesting discussion today with an old colleague about how much of our lives is currently online, what the trends are and where it might possibly lead. I must admit that, at present, not much of my life is online. I have a website, a blog (obviously), a Flickr account, an iGoogle page and a couple of Gmail accounts (one for signing up to websites, one I use for Google services). I don’t have a myspace account or a second life existence but I am on Facebook, although there’s not much there and I don’t look at it very often. There’s nothing very private or personal about my online presence, so I haven’t been very fussy about my privacy online.

In my pocket, I carry my trusty Ipaq rw6828, which has my phone book contacts, calendar, some photos, music and video, a few documents and some software. It syncs with my outlook but, although I really like it as a device, again I don’t have anything mission-critical on it. If I lost it, I would be slightly annoyed (although not too much, as it would give me an excuse to get an even cooler toy) but not devastated.

I have been interested in the move of applications to the browser and pondering what that might mean. If all my documents are handled by Google Docs or Zoho Writer, what might that mean for the consumer? Should I move my contacts and calendar online?

In some ways, I guess it might be quite a good thing if all I need is a browser to manage most of my productivity tasks. They are free for the most part, at least for the present. I probably trust Google enough not to lose my documents – I trust Flickr with my photo archive (although I have several backups on various media. Call me paranoid). But the trust is from a data integrity viewpoint, not a privacy viewpoint.

Billy Bragg had a very public bust-up with Myspace last year when it seemed that the terms & conditions accepted by Myspace users (you know, the bit with all the legal mumbo-jumbo that you don’t read … you just tick the “I agree” box at the bottom) entitled Myspace to use content uploaded by its users – Billy’s songs in this case, without compensating the artist. Billy complained and in a move that surprised many people, including yours truly, Myspace relented almost immediately. Now, I haven’t written any songs that are commercially viable, but how concerned should I be about a huge corporation like Google taking care of my documents?

So, after we have moved our correspondence and our documents and photos online, what’s next? Many people have chosen to extend or parallel their existing lives or even create new life in online environments. From the Sims, World of Warcraft to Second Life, virtual existence is big business. Now I must admit to having a bit of a hard time in relating to such existence. I remember reading about someone who was engaged in real life and having a relationship with someone else in the Sims. The story goes that she felt so bad about two-timing her Sims boyfriend with her real-life fiancé that she broke off her engagement with the person she lived with in order to spend her time online with a clean conscience. It’s probably apocryphal, but it exemplifies the problems associated with living lives that are heavily virtualised. Earlier this year, there was the much-publicised virtual rape on Second Life. The boundaries are starting to blur. There is certainly enough commerce, interaction, and socio-politics in such virtual worlds for many people to take them seriously.

As for me … like most people, at present I’m happy living a hybrid life, slipping into the virtual parts of it when appropriate, but not taking it too seriously or pushing too much of my psyche online.

Image copyright Billy Bragg (c) www.bilybragg.co.uk