Maybe this is all so obvious, it doesn't need to be written... but what the hell... it's on my mind.
Of course, it is understandable that people want to live in the virtual landscape that we have created; our vast mirror-world. It is a bubbling paradise where the present just expands exponentially every second of every day. No one dies. Or if they die, they are not gone, they are not silent. They are trapped in the mirror. The past is just as alive as the present. The past is the present. There is no need for a future. The present is one second away from being more encompassing - more present.
We offer the best and the worst of ourselves to the mirror-world. And best and worst is the same thing too. It's all just part of the stream of consciousness. We can float, pick and choose - that's our freedom in the web. We don't have to stay anywhere, we can float anywhere.
Our flesh and blood world is no match for the vast mirror-world. In the flesh and blood world we bleed, we break bones, we get tired, we die and are gone, silent - forever. Now these things can happen in the mirror-world, but they are just another image, another event that can be repeated over and over. So those moments are no longer just discrete moments. They are part of the present stream.
So yes, consequential events happen in the mirror-world, just like in our flesh and blood world, but they aren't the same. They are now just images, just like any other image. They have no substance, no consequence. They are "dream-like" and they can be repeated, they can run backwards.
So we live with both worlds. All the time. It has changed us, this world/mirror world existence. It just is part of our reality now. And it has changed us too. In ways I don't think we can even pinpoint.