Do you think internet friendships or relationships are real?

Question

By the same token, do you think people who spend most of their time relating to people on the internet lose their ability to relate to people in person?

Answer 1

What I think is that anytime a person reaches out to another, it's real.  What's also real is that on-line communication is 'unreal'  in that  we can readily edit and present ourselves in a way that is not possible face to face.

Do we lose the ability to relate person-to-person?  Probably not, though it may be more uncomfortable, maybe very much so.

Answer 2

It depends on t he situation.. say you meet a guy online and never meet him in person and you become good friends.. but whats a good friend going to do if they can only talk to you through the computer or the phone.. its not going to be a very good realtionship.. it would become awkward.

On the other hand. I met this guy when I was out with friends.. he was one of my friend's friends. We didn't really talk but we atarted talking online and hit it off. We became great friends but we never had the chance to get together again.. Mind you we were only friends for like 2 months maybe less. Well we ended up getting in a fight and well we've barely talked since.. though we saw each other a lot. It was different having met the person first face to face then talk over the internet.. then when you start a relationship over the internet and never meet someone.. I believe that way you do lose you ability to relate to the people in  person.

Answer 3

I think you act differently to people on the internet then you do face-to-face.

Answer 4

Some internet friendships are very real.....I married mine, after we met in person.  ~lol~  That was over 6 years ago...chatted on line for about two years (and NO, we didn't meet with an on-line dating service).

I'm perfectly able to interact with people in person, in completely appropriate ways.  

There are some people like myself, who have health problems.  Other peoples germs are deadly to me (especially cold/flu germs).  For this reason, I stay away from people in person, for the most part.  The internet gives me a nice way to chat with people, have contact with people, and best of all gives me a chance to narrow down, and actually find people who share common interests.

How many people do you know that raise meat goats, make quilts, raise their own food, read huge numbers of books, ride horses, live on a farm, and plan on building a straw bale home completely off grid?  Belive it or not, there are other people just like me!  The internet gives me a chance to make contact with these like minded people who live in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, and the U.K.  

Without the net, I'd never have these friends.  Of course I also believe there are also a LOT of freaky weird people out on the net too.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years