What is friendship? A friend ought to be someone you can trust who will be there for you through the good times and the bad; someone you can confide in and turn to when you need support. You meet people throughout the course of your life and some people you click with and some people you don't; some people you maintain contact with and others you forget about. It depends on the kind of person you are - whether you make friends easily, the size of your friendship group, how often you meet new people. If you're introverted and don't have many opportunities to meet people, you may only have a small group of friends, but they become people that you very much value.
The widespread use of the Internet and technological advances mean that it is much easier to connect with people throughout the world; to interact with individuals with similar interests and stay in touch with people in your 'real' life. Unfortunately, there is still a degree of scepticism over whether online friendship is 'real.' With 'real' friends, you can meet up and discuss what's going on in your life and just hang out. With online 'friends' your interaction can consist solely of emails and how do you even know the person you're talking to is really who you think? It is easy to create a fake profile and send pictures that don't belong to you, and yet there are people still willing to invest time into online friendships and relationships.
Even though there are plenty of stories of lies and deceit, there are also numerous stories of people who have found real, meaningful friendship over the Internet. Plus, more people are turning to video chat so that, visually, they know who they are talking to, and it isn't all that different from chatting to 'real-life' friends and, indeed, there are people who keep their friendships and relationships going with the help of Skype. Thus, just because you've connected with someone online doesn't make your friendship any less valid and, clearly, there has to be something keeping you talking. One thing that seems to keep 'real-life' friendships going is proximity, so that even if you don't have much in common, you still have something to talk about.
Usually 'virtual' friendships come about because you have specifically sought out someone with similar thoughts and interests. You can't take for granted online friends, because one of the downsides of online interaction is its transient nature. If one online friend takes months to reply, there may be less willingness on the other side to respond promptly and once you get out of the habit of sending messages and interacting regularly there is no longer a friendship. However, maybe it is less traumatic to lose an online friend compared to a real-life friend, because you're not as aware of it and there isn't quite the same level of emotional investment or attachment. That is probably one of the main reasons why people are so dismissive of online friendship, and yet there are many people who make friends online in the hopes that their online pal will one day become a real-life friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment