WIKIS, blogs, wifi – words which meant little to you a few years ago and today mean I see little of my daughter except when she’s hungry – are now part of our daily language as the internet has become part of our everyday lives.

You can even create another world and become a different person, as in Second Life, a digital world imagined, created and owned by its residents, where players choose a digital alter ego and move him or her through a virtual country.

Such is its influence that an online magazine, Prim Perfect, has launched specifically for Second Life homes and gardens with articles about buying or renting your home, finding the best designers, choosing your furniture, landscaping your garden and learning the latest news from the world of interior design.

But the homes discussed are all imaginary and it’s aimed at fictional characters.

Back to reality (almost), the fact is that people are increasingly using the internet to find their new home.

Recent research by Findaproperty.com found that nine out of 10 people would consider the internet their first port of call when looking for a new home, and it’s not surprising, it’s so easy to tap in the credentials and wait a couple of seconds for a list of properties to appear.

You can send an email requesting property details, without having to disclose a great deal about yourself, opening up an agenda for discussion but being able to respond at a convenient time and steer the conversation.

It means you no longer have to trawl the high street registering with dozens of agents in the hope they might come back with something remotely suitable.

The internet has allowed us to utilise Bond like skills to gather all sorts of information.

You might not know how to get to level 18 on Tomb Raider, but you might just have more than an inkling of what your home is worth, where next door’s buyers came from and what they paid for theirs, so that once you do decide to pop into your local estate agent, you can impress them with your local knowledge.

Yes, your initial search may have been on the internet, but there is still that eventual need for face to face contact, the humble high street agent is not a dying breed.

There may be a virtual world for buying and selling homes and property, but when it comes to reality, people still inevitably want to interact with another human being.

We might challenge our next door neighbours to a game of online tennis with a compatible Wii instead of a dinner party and our kids might learn social skills by using Facebook, but our need for human contact will prevail!

* Paul Hogarth is partner and head of new homes sales and marketing for Knight Frank in the South East. To contact his residential development team call 01483 564660.