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Are online friends "real" friends?

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Net friends are the best... Because they never ask you to help them move. 🙂 You know, "can you help me with the couch and piano and a couple of heavy things on saturday? "
 
one who you can tell a whole lot more to without worrying they'll blab to your girlfriend
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In theory that's good. The problem crops up when the online friend is also an online friend of your girlfriend.

To answer HC's question, yes, I think they are real friends. But I will also echo the sentiment that the connection is rather more tenuous than the friends you have met in three dimensions. The internet also has the effect of tearing down a lot of the walls that some people put up, so there is a less guarded nature in internet conversation. I do agree also that eventually an internet friend needs to be met in real life if you want to "cross the line" to a less tenuous friendship.

Internet friends are every bit as important as my normal friends though. I am concerned about them when they have troubles, I'm happy when good things happen to them. Still though, it's not the same as a "normal" friendship. However, I also think that a good internet friendship can translate into a "normal" friendship very easily once the people meet.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
one who you can tell a whole lot more to without worrying they'll blab to your girlfriend
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In theory that's good. The problem crops up when the online friend is also an online friend of your girlfriend.
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Hey, I only tell Shanna things that'll get you in trouble! Your own darn fault for letting me find her email address!
 
Originally posted by: hzl_eyed_grl
until you actually meet them i think there is an imaginary line.
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I kind of agree with that. It's a little different than being able to go hang out with them, of course. But, I've met several of my "online" friends and count them as some of my best friends. I met Mustangrrl here who is my best friend, I met X-Man here who was my bf, I've met FFMCobalt....I've met quite a few and talked to even more on the phone....so they're all great friends to me.
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I can understand that ffmcobalt is still just an online friend. I would want to keep it that way too.
 
Sure they are friends, but not in the same sense. You can talk over AIM as much as you want but it doesn't replace a physical presence. Everything from body language, tones in your voice, to even touching...it's just totally different. I used to think the same thing...but really no matter how much you talk to a person, if you don't meet them and spend a considerable amount of time with them you really don't know them.

Kid yourselves all you want, but it's true.

Nothing against online friends (I have lots), but I'd sooner trust one of my best friends in real life that I knew for a year rather than someone I've been talking to online for 5 or even 10 years.

 
Originally posted by: BatmanNate
You can't drink with your online buds. Actually, pretty much everyone I know online I knew locally first.
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No, but you can come home and talk to them when you're drunk! That's always fun, usually for both parties 🙂

I would consider some of the people I talk to online real friends, but in a different sense. I trust some of my online friends more than my real friends!

 
Originally posted by: Jellomancer
Originally posted by: hzl_eyed_grl
until you actually meet them i think there is an imaginary line.
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I kind of agree with that. It's a little different than being able to go hang out with them, of course. But, I've met several of my "online" friends and count them as some of my best friends. I met Mustangrrl here who is my best friend, I met X-Man here who was my bf, I've met FFMCobalt....I've met quite a few and talked to even more on the phone....so they're all great friends to me.
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I can understand that ffmcobalt is still just an online friend. I would want to keep it that way too.
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*Just* an online friend? Nah! I met him and Chelsea last summer. Dere much more than just online friends. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: kami
Sure they are friends, but not in the same sense. You can talk over AIM as much as you want but it doesn't replace a physical presence. Everything from body language, tones in your voice, to even touching...it's just totally different. I used to think the same thing...but really no matter how much you talk to a person, if you don't meet them and spend a considerable amount of time with them you really don't know them.

Kid yourselves all you want, but it's true.

Nothing against online friends (I have lots), but I'd sooner trust one of my best friends in real life that I knew for a year rather than someone I've been talking to online for 5 or even 10 years.
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I spend a lot of time with some of my online friends, on the phone and on AIM - and I'm talking about more time than I spend with some of my best friends back home. My question is, what is it about physical presence that's so essential? I think it's essential if you want more than a friendship, but for just straight friendship, shared experiences and self-disclosure, and trust tend to be the three big factors. Trust may be weakened by not knowing the person in RL, I guess, but that's more of a case to case basis. I think you can have all three of those with online friends, and in that sense they're as real as "real" friends.
 
Basically they are real friends but the relationship isn't the same...
That and they don't really ever annoy me...actually one does but then you caan just block them🙂
If you don't answer your phone your real friends get pissed...or if you don't call them
 
I spend a lot of time with some of my online friends, on the phone and on AIM - and I'm talking about more time than I spend with some of my best friends back home. My question is, what is it about physical presence that's so essential? I think it's essential if you want more than a friendship, but for just straight friendship, shared experiences and self-disclosure, and trust tend to be the three big factors. Trust may be weakened by not knowing the person in RL, I guess, but that's more of a case to case basis. I think you can have all three of those with online friends, and in that sense they're as real as "real" friends.
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That would be fine if I did nothing else but TALK with my friends. There's more to life than that though 😉 I don't just get together with my friends and TALK...we do stuff.
 
I would have to agree with Kami here. As much as I appreciate people I befriend on the 'net, I couldn't equate it with real life friendship. The 'net friendship is a form of friendship, but not to be mistaken for what real life friendship gives. I like to keep internet friendship as such, nothing more. I cannot exchange things with the 'net person if it involves my real life personal details, address, etc. Hence, I can easily move on with my life on the 'net and in real life if we should go our seperate ways. But in the event that I meet any online friends in real life, I guess it can develop to real friendship. However, chances are, it won't happen. Only through an accidental meeting (i.e., bumping into each other) can I see that happen.
 
Originally posted by: OS
No, I have to meet them first.

Truth be told, I think this is a weak question to ask.
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rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: CrazyDe1
I have 2 girls online who I tell everything to. I would never consider telling any of my problems or anythign to any of my friends in real life. They're the ones that I go out with, drink with, have laughs with, but I would never let them know what bugs me. I wouldn't ever make my problems theirs. The 2 chicks online tell me everything about their personal lives too and we help each other through it...

In real life I like to seem like the kid that doesn't have any problems and just sits and makes jokes and has a good time all the time...I'm the kid everyone hangs out with because "there's no bullsh1t and all you do is have fun...I never have any problems."
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You see, the problem with that is the foolowing:
You are not even really sure they are really girls...
Maybe a couple of old gay perverts that need some exitment.....
Get my point ??? :Q
 
I think so. I talk to a few people on a MSN medical chat thingy and they can understand what I am talking about. I even moderate one of the rooms.

It is easier to "open up" to faceless people or strangers rather than your friends. Like a psychologist, that is a stranger but people pour their guts out to them. You can build a trust and friendship online, I know many of the regulars here, and you know me. We are real and we do exist, so I think we are friends in some sense of the word. I know I have asked for help (not proud about it) here and you really helped. (btw, thanks if I never said it)

This is a new age and being able to communicate with typing is similar to how it was when the phone was invented. Still communicating, just with another medium. I have to add that AOL does not count, lmao, if you are on that you are about to win a Darwin award.
 
If anything, You get a wider selection of friends on the internet. People are either sincere or not, according to their nature, not their communication media. However, I would interject at this point that meeting someone in person and interacting with them is a healthy way to communicate as well. Some people do well in socially physical situations and other more introverted people might do better in a chat room where physical proximity is not required. Different things create comfort according to the nature of both parties involved. Best to have both situations available to you.
 
It depends. In real life, I really don't trust many people enough to become very close friends...but om the Net, there isn't much fear, of a sort, I can have so I might actually be more close to them than a person I know in real life, if you will.
 
So let me get this staright....

Some bully yelled at you and told you you had no friends. You thought about for a second. Realized that in theory you had no 'real' friends, but then was confused as to where your online friends fit in. Now, in a quandry that could baffle even historical greats, you are questioning the validility of indirect long-distance inter-person relationships.



 
I think that if you feel your online friends are an important part of your life than yes they are "real" friends. It doesn't matter where the friends may be, or really who they are for that matter, if you feel that they are qualified to be a friend it doesn't matter if they are online or in person.

I don't do much online outside of AT other than buy stuff, (<-- looks at post count--) and in reality I don't do that much here either. I am more of a people person, its not that easy for me to consider someone a "real" friend if I actually don't know them in person. That being said, I rather enjoy my time here and have garnered quite a bit of good info from a lot of the members here. There are a number of members here who I have gotten to "know" as the time has past even if only by there online personalities. ATOT has provided me with lots of laughs and info over the years and for that I consider OT to be as close to a online friend as I will probably have.

Farmall
 
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