Every now and then I experience a sort of mini-epiphany. I make a little discovery about myself or society in general, or really any other topic. Right now, that topic is Internet friendships or buddies.
I spend a lot of time on the Internet when I'm at my dorm room. I have a few sites I frequent, including ProgressiveU and a fansite for the TV show Smallville called K-Site. The more time I spend on these sites, the more I see screennames as actual people. The more I learn about them (through comments, blog entries, or other message posts) the more real they seem. Before this type of interaction, these screennames were just random letters and/or numbers associated with another computer.
Even though I've never met anyone from ProgressiveU or K-Site, I still exhibit the sociological norms of speaking with a person in real life: I will try to word things appropriately so nothing is confused, I'm happy when I get a comment (or excited when I get an awesome comment). I find myself thinking of some of these people as friends even though the word is never mentioned.
Years ago, such an interaction and relationship would be thought of as unthinkable. It would be like picking some number at random and having a conversation with the person long distance. Now however, it's not abnormal to see people "dating" Internet boy/girlfriends---even though they've never met! It's an incredible thing that defines our generation and shapes the future...towards what I wonder?
What's also interesting is the opinion I got from a friend of mine who was dating a boy over the Internet. She said (not verbatim) "Internet dating is so much better because you get to know their personality, not worry about looks."
Although I'm not sure I really agree with Internet dating (I'm paranoid about Internet stalking) I think it is curious how friendships can occur over a medium such as the Internet. I wonder what these people are like in real life. Heck for all I know, I see some of these Internet friends everyday and pay them no mind in person!
Now imagine that...
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I sort of think it's sad that relationships have become so unpersonal now days.
I disagree that they have become impersonal. I have my friends who I see a lot and talk to and hang out with and what not. But I also don't think it presumptuous of me to say that I've made friends of a different nature on this site.
And, with the advent of high speed communication, distance is pretty relative. I could talk to someone a continent away in the same amount of time it takes me to talk to my neighbor.
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
A lot of my best friends I know through the internet. My boyfriend and I met online, and that's pretty much exclusively how we talk to each other now, since he's 1500 miles away from me right now. In some ways, I feel I can connect with the people I know online better, because we end up talking about such random things that doesn't happen when I'm with my friends in the flesh.
~C
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Yeah, I've found that conversations definitely change when they occur over the Internet. Funny how these things happen.
The reason I travelled to Europe three times was to meet "internet friends". One of my "internet friends" is sending me thousands of dollars to help me cover my trip to Cambodia. Etc, etc.
Wow. Cambodia. Have fun, take pictures, and drag me with you in your suitcase!
Ugh, I hate to do this, because I always do, but just a little warning: be careful. Okay, I'm over it now.
Hm? Careful? Wait, you mean I shouldn't smuggle pot or start beating up "American business men"? But... fun. D:
Oh no, by all means beat up American business men. We all know they need a kick in the butt.
I just mean be careful when you meet this person, because he may not be how he appeared online.
Oh, I thought you were talking about Cambodia.
Um, currently we have no plans to meet? XD I mean, I would love to meet him and he would love to meet me, but it's unlikely to happen in the near future.
And I'm pretty sure he is who he says he is. He's shown me his certificate from the rape crisis center, he's sent me photos of him with the Harvard student he tutored, he's sent newspaper clippings, etc. XD
I agree on this. Many people can be someone else offline but others are really who they say they are. Since I have been on this site I also spend alot of time on it also. I actually get excited about it, which seems pathedic. I believe these people we talk to are friends like you said even if they don't say so. I used to have alot of friends online and would talk to them on the phone back when I was single and my other friends weren't around that much. It was alot of fun. But I lost my aol account and didn't remember their screen names so I didn't get to talk to them again.