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general Internet Friends or Real Friends?


Jon the VGNerd

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I was homeschooled so I had very few friends in person before the Internet came along. Since then I've drifted apart from everyone here locally as we have no interests or goals in common so everyone I stay in touch with came from the Internet side of things. That said, we had a very active local MLP meetup group, many whom I still am friends with even after it fell apart, but even then I rarely see them in person unless they come to the house for meetups. Having Internet access allows me to pick and choose those to make important in my life due to similar interests and beliefs instead of being limited to just whoever is around locally, and I get to meet up with Internet folk in person fairly often when I travel to conventions.

I don't really get along with many people locally due to my different interests, and drift apart quickly. I don't keep in contact with former co-workers or childhood friends because we have nothing in common. But there are people I know from the Internet who I've been friends with for a decade or so that I plan to continue to be friends with, as we have things in common no matter the distance. I'd have to give the edge to the Internet, but each person's experience is different. I am an incredibly introverted individual, too, which may cause some bias.

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I guess it's all in what you value in another human being. I'm introverted so I don't have many real life acquaintances, and I usually like it that way. But the real life friends I do have I enjoy being in the company of. In person one can share activity together. Online it's pretty much all verbal. In person, there are those who try to hit on me a lot just to add another notch to their personal batting average so to speak, and those people are not worth knowing. I don't mind personal affection, but it has to mean something. There's something to be said for both ways; online is nice for some things, and knowing someone in person is nice as well, when it's handled properly. 

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  • 9 months later...

It's difficult to confirm which I prefer, as I behave and interact with both in a completely different manner. I only do this to keep things from getting awkward and stopping myself from losing control over my actions.

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  • 3 months later...

I have an even number of both, but my friend I consider to be my "best" friend I've only ever talked to online. He actually lives about 45 minutes from me, we just haven't made plans to meet up yet. 

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I have some, but not a lot of friends, both on and off the internet. I generally feel like I can be a bit more sure someone is a real friend if I meet them in real life, but I still generally have a paranoia that no one really cares about me that much.

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  • 8 months later...

Irl friends are nice because it's fun to hang out in person, but online friendships are still very real. And with enough time (and assuming you're within the same country or at least the same continent), online friends can become irl friends, too.

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On 4/16/2019 at 10:32 PM, Lucky Bolt said:

I have an even number of both, but my friend I consider to be my "best" friend I've only ever talked to online. He actually lives about 45 minutes from me, we just haven't made plans to meet up yet. 

^ This is irreverent. I had a falling out with this person a few months ago. We are NOT friends anymore. :dry: Just wanna make that clear....

 

Anyway, I choose both. Online friends are just as important as real life friends, and from what I’ve noticed, online friends in a lot of cases have stronger connections compared to real life friends. Just something I’ve noticed.....

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Online friends have been my best ones for my entire life. All of my offline friends have drifted apart and don't talk to me anymore. Been friends with people online for more than ten years! And my offline friends haven't talked to me in that long. Kinda sad...

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Both, really. I love internet friends, I find them so easy to talk to and, mostly, non-judgmental. There's such a huge variety too, and always a surprise to find out things that they enjoy. But I have loved my real life friends very much, delighted to interact with them in a more immediate way. I try to find a balance.

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I see both as extremely valuable. I have spent time with all of them and for the most part i think the only "awkward" part is that over excitement you get when you finally get to meet your close online friends finally. I have had relationships and more too via online and they worked out pretty well with meet ups and all that included and so forth. I think like in person friends it's all about figuring out who it is. And depending on the person if they are worth your time. If you can't tell someone something then it's more figuring out why can't you tell them it? And then asking why is it a problem and why are you scared of the answer.

I was brought up with the idea that in the world there is only so many true friends. And they would be hard to find. I have found around 7 true friends of mine. And we are like family from it, but i have also begun to find some more. It's the best part about the internet the ability to hunt and find people from around the world that normally would take forever.

So over all friends of both types both have their yes' and no's. But over all vs one other they balance out. It really depends on how you structure your friendship, and what you are comfortable with as a person, and understanding what they are comfortable with as well.

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