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The phrase real life can have multiple meanings. It is most often used to mean life outside of an environment that is generally seen as fiction or fantasy, such as something on the Internet, a dream, a novel, a movie, a hallucination, or a delusion.
It is sometimes used synonymously with real world to mean one's existence after he or she is done with schooling and is no longer supported by parents, i.e. the practical world versus the academic world. A person with experience in "real life" or "the real world" has experience beyond book learning.
"Real life" can be a controversial term. Some people use it as a value judgement to describe "productive" activities, specifically jobs or the support of one's family. In this case, "real life" activities are seen as "better" than other activities, such as playing video games or surfing the internet. However, many speakers use the phrase in an ironic sense to describe an alternative to their own activities, which may be valued as more important.
On the internet
The abbreviation RL stands for "real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet." For example, one can speak of meeting in RL someone whom one has met in chat or on a Internet forum, or of inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems".
"In real life" is often abbreviated IRL. This produces an amusing counterpoint with IRC. The two abbreviations are often used in contrast with one another in IRC conversations. Some prefer the expression face-to-face, abbreviated f2f. Some cybernauts use the idioms face time or meatspace, which contrasts with the term "cyberspace".
History
This phrase may relate to the American saying "Get a Life", allegedly popularised by William Shatner on the television show Saturday Night Live. In a 1986-12-20 sketch called "16th Annual Star Trek Convention", Shatner played himself interacting with a group of Star Trek fans.* The phrase in the show implied that none of the fans had a "real life", and that they needed to move out of their parents' basement, get a job, a girlfriend, and buy a house with a mortgage.
References in literature
"Authors, as a rule, attempt to select and portray types rarely met with in their entirety, but these types are nevertheless more real than real life itself." --The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky *
See also
"Real life"