To what extent do your online life and online friendships interfere with your real life?

I have been wrestling with some issues of dependence on social networking sites and have pulled back from an engagement with them to an extent. I have found that I can get very involved with online people and issues to the detriment of real life relationships. However, I still enjoy the peeps and discussions here and am trying to balance the two. Your thoughts? (I am more interested in your own experiences and issues: don’t need specific advice.)