The Drawbacks of Online Friendships

The trouble with online friendships is their transient nature. When you’re bored and lonely, it’s easy to look for someone you can make a brief connection with in a chat room or on a social networking site, as it passes the time. However, even if you exchange email addresses or become Skype buddies, there is no guarantee you will ‘talk’ again. You just don’t have the same bond as you do with the individuals you encounter in your everyday life – out of sight, out of mind as they say. In real life, you encounter people and you build a bond with them that is harder to break.

That is not to say there is no value in online friendships, but you have to be prepared to put the time and energy into getting to know someone and just because you email regularly and try to keep in contact, your online ‘friend’ may not be quite as committed. It’s frustrating, because usually all you have is their email address, and you can’t keep inundating them with messages until you get a response, because if they don’t want to write back, they won’t. Of course, real-life friends can ignore you, too, but it tends to be a lot more difficult when you’re standing face-to-face and you’re usually given some kind of explanation.

Friends tend to be people you can rely on in a crisis; people who will help you out and support you when things go wrong, but with online friends, you don’t get the same kind of immediacy. You may send an email, but you don’t know when you’re going to get a response. There is also the possibility that your online friend is stringing you along and is not really who he or she claims to be. You could find yourself revealing all sorts of personal details, only to discover that you’re being used for some reason. Your ‘friend’ may end up trying to use the information you’ve provided against you, blackmailing you or trying to hack into any online accounts you may have.

There is always an element of risk when trying to build up any kind of friendship, though. Even when you think you know someone in person, they could quite easily be holding something back or lying about themselves. However, being online makes it much easier for individuals to get away with such behaviour, as individuals can hide behind their online personae. Although it is possible to build long-lasting online friendships, for most people the novelty soon wears off and after a few weeks or months of corresponding, the level of interaction tails off.

How to Increase Your Earnings from Online Articles

In order to increase your earnings from online articles, it helps to write articles on subjects that people are interested in and are likely to click on. It can be hard to settle on a topic you feel comfortable writing about, at first, and then you actually have to find a way to draw attention to your work. You may be a very good writer and have a deep understanding about nutrition, for example, but if nobody reads what you have written, then no one is going to know that! Unfortunately, just because you’re a good writer, it doesn’t mean people are automatically going to find your article, especially because search engine rankings are so hard to predict.

Indeed, you can try to cram your articles full of keywords, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your article is going to come out on top. You therefore have to focus on writing well-crafted articles that have links to other sites and which are just the right length to hold your audience’s attention. Although you may be able to create an article of over 1000 words long, you are probably better off breaking this up into a number of different articles, as people generally have a short attention span, so that reading a really long article is somewhat off-putting.

Plus, if you write a number of articles, this means greater potential to earn money from ad revenue. Clearly, if you want to increase the earnings you make from your online articles; it helps to have a large number of articles in the first place. If someone reads one of your articles and enjoys it, they may be inclined to click on any links you’ve posted to your other articles. If you build up a loyal audience, they may well share links with their friends and associates, which obviously directs more people to your work, thus increasing the amount of money you can make from your online articles.

Although it can be tempting to churn out huge numbers of really short articles, most content sites have word limits in place, because when people click on a link, they want to know they’re going to get an article that is worth reading, rather than something that has been thrown together for the sake of it. You therefore have to try to produce articles that are of a decent standard, especially if you intend to promote your articles using social media.

Using social media sites such as Twitter can significantly increase your earnings, but the best way to build up a following is to connect with other people who are interested in what you have to write about. If your articles are nonsense, eventually you will be found out and people are hardly likely to recommend their own followers to check out your work. Ultimately, if you want to increase your earnings from online articles, you have to work at it, making sure you create good-quality articles on a regular basis and that you make an effort to promote them. You are hardly likely to get rich overnight, but it is possible to earn a reasonable amount of money if you try.

Can You Get Rich Fast?

If it was possible to get rich quickly, why do so many people find themselves working incredibly hard for so little? Of course, everyone clings on to the idea you can get rich with the minimum of effort, which is why so many people play the lottery. Indeed, the only way you’re likely to get rich quickly is to stumble upon a piece of good fortune by winning a large sum of money through gambling – whether by playing the lottery, going to a casino or putting money on a horse that comes good. There are other ways you could get rich quickly, but few of them involve actual work.

You may be sitting on a fortune without even realising it, as many people have houses full of junk. You may discover that amongst the ‘junk’ is something that is actually an antique worth a lot of money when you have a house clear-out. It could be that you end up buying something in a junk shop or online because you like the look of it, only to discover it’s actually a rare antique that is incredibly valuable. If it goes to auction you could quickly find yourself with more money than you ever anticipated.

It might be the case that a long-lost relative dies and leaves you a substantial sum of money, so that you find yourself financially better-off. Of course, a relative dying may be a sad affair, and unless your family is inordinately rich, any inheritance probably won’t be that magnificent. However, when life is such a struggle, you need to hold on to something and it would be nice to think that without having to do anything you could become financially secure. Of course, with all the legal wrangling that is likely to ensue, you probably won’t get rich that quickly; plus, you will have to pay tax.

So, basically, you can get rich quick if you come from a wealthy, generous family or like to gamble and have some good luck or are just lucky in general. You may invest in stocks and shares or buy a home that increases in value over the years and find yourself getting rich without any real effort on your part. There are so many get-rich-quick schemes that seem to offer you the chance to make your millions, but they’re all a con, preying on people’s desire to be financially secure. The most depressing thing is that working hard won’t necessarily guarantee you will attain financial security; yet gambling can sometimes pay off. It hardly offers you an incentive to work hard, now; does it?!

When Does it Become Important to Lose Weight?

Although there are various weight guidelines, most notably the Body Mass Index (BMI), which are used to determine whether a person is a healthy weight, or not; everyone has their own ideal. According to your BMI, a measurement which takes into account height and weight, falling between 18.5 and 24.9 makes you a healthy weight. Anything above or below this figure means that you are not a healthy weight and either need to gain or lose weight. However, this covers quite a significant range, and even if you are officially considered a healthy weight, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happy at the weight you are.

Basically, it becomes important to lose weight when you’re heavy enough for you to be dissatisfied with the way you look, so that it affects your confidence; or it affects your health, and you are unable to live the kind of life you want. If you find your clothes getting tighter, you may not have to buy a whole new wardrobe if you decide to cut down on snacks and exercise more, which is clearly the preferable option. Perhaps you’re considered to be a healthy weight, but are at the higher end of the BMI scale and would like to lose weight and tone up, so that you can look and feel better in the clothes you wear.

There is definitely a superficial element to losing weight. Everyone wants to look good and, in this society, the aesthetic ideal is that of a slender, toned body, rather than an overweight one. Even if you are confident in yourself, it’s hard not to be affected by the images you’re bombarded with on a daily basis. When all you see when you turn on the television or flick through a magazine is images of skinny women, of course this is going to have an impact on the way you feel about yourself. It is one thing to preach body confidence, but it’s quite another to practise it.

More important than the way you look is how you feel and your overall health. At the end of the day, if you’re sick because of your weight and unable to do anything for yourself, it isn’t really going to matter what you look like, is it? If your health is beginning to suffer because of your weight, as is so often the case, then it is definitely worth trying to do something about it. Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are just a few of the conditions which you are more likely to develop if you’re overweight and obviously it is better to tackle your weight before your health becomes a serious issue.

Losing weight isn’t easy and it might be tempting to put off dealing with it, but, ultimately, if you’re unhappy with your size and it’s affecting your quality of life you need to do something about it, rather than continually making excuses.

The Benefits of Online Friendships

There are individuals who tend to belittle online friendships, claiming that you can’t really be friends with someone you have never met. However, to those who invest a great deal of time and energy into their online friendships, they are very real. Of course, there are different types of online friendship. Sometimes, you connect with someone, because it gives you an opportunity to share your writing or promote your blog. However, there are occasions when you discover that you have something in common with a person who you randomly added as a friend, and you begin to build a more solid friendship.

Online friendships work in pretty much the same way as real-life friendships, in that you ask each other questions and discover more about each other’s upbringing, education, career, family, interests and beliefs. The only significant difference is that instead of sitting across a table, face-to-face, you are probably typing away at a computer. Perhaps there isn’t quite as much fulfilment from an online friendship, since you can’t simply agree to meet up for a drink or do something together, as you could in real life. However, for some people offline relationships are harder to come by. If you live an isolated existence, then it might be the case that online friendship is all you have.

Some people struggle to interact with other individuals in their everyday lives, and so online friendships enable them to connect with other people who may have similar problems. It could be that building online friendships enables them to escape their problems, so that they don’t have to worry about the fact they’re not very good in social situations. Online friends may not seem real to other people, but when you have spent months or years exchanging emails and chatting on instant messenger, only you are aware of the bond you have built up. It feels as if you understand each other, and it is reassuring to know you have someone to confide in.

There may be some individuals online who choose to lie about who they are and so construct elaborate identities for themselves, but this is a pretty rare occurrence. If they are trying to get money out of you or manipulate you in some way, it won’t take long to find out the truth. In most cases, online friendships are built on mutual interests or shared experiences. Some people decide that they are close enough to their online friends to actually meet up with them, whilst for others this just isn’t an option. Although the Internet has enabled people from all over the world to connect, it hasn’t made travelling hundreds of miles any more practical! Even if there is no chance of meeting an online pal offline, it doesn’t mean that their friendship is any less worthwhile.

Are Online Relationships Worth Investing in?

It is amazing how much time and emotional energy you can invest in an online relationship and you have to wonder, is it really worth it? Of course, different people want different things from their online relationships. For some individuals, connecting online is a precursor to meeting offline and building a proper, real-life relationship. Other individuals believe they get enough fulfilment from online relationships and seem to live their whole lives on the Internet. This definitely seems less healthy in that no matter how strong a relationship can seem online, you don’t really know who you’re talking to or if you’re likely to have any real-life chemistry.

The trouble is that no matter how honest you are about yourself, it is obviously easier to highlight certain character traits and ignore others, even if it is at unconscious level. When you’re online, you may feel that you can tell the other person anything and everything, and do so, but this tends not to be the case when you meet for real. Just because you ‘click’ online does not mean that there will be the same chemistry when you meet face-to-face and this can ultimately lead to disappointment, especially if you have been exchanging emails and chatting via instant messenger for a long time. Of course, this isn’t going to be a problem if you never intend to meet.

However, you have to bear in mind that whilst you may be happy keeping a relationship online, exchanging friendly messages and perhaps flirting a little, the other person may want something more. It is easy to get caught up in the moment of finding someone who really seems to understand you and who appears to have a similar outlook on the world and the same kind of interests, but this sort of relationship is not the same as one where you see each other every day and interact in person. Online relationships are not a waste of time if you feel you get something out of them. If you enjoy the companionship you get, then who cares if it is only online?

After all, it isn’t always practical to meet. If you live hundreds of miles away, it isn’t as easy as just arranging to have a quick coffee, and so you can find yourself getting to know someone really well online and growing closer, despite the distance. At the end of the day, though, it is only an online relationship and there are those who will try to belittle it and emphasise how the person you think you’re really close to could in fact be an imposter. Indeed, it is worth bearing in mind that not everyone is who they say they are online, but that shouldn’t stop you using the Internet to connect with people and from building online relationships. It may not be healthy to live your life completely online, but there is nothing wrong with online relationships if they make you happy.

Is it Possible to Fall in Love Online?

The Internet has made it exceptionally easy to connect with people and it therefore comes as no surprise that so many people have tried online dating and built relationships online. There are dating and friendship sites; chat rooms and social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, where you can get in contact with people you otherwise wouldn’t have met. However, if you’ve never met in real life and your only interaction is online, is the relationship you have likely to be on the same level as the relationships you have in your real life? Is it possible to chat with someone online and to fall in love with them, despite having never met?

Some people believe it is possible. After all, it is a rather romantic notion – the idea that you can meet your ‘soul mate’ online, someone you share your innermost thoughts and beliefs with; someone who accepts you the way you are; someone who makes you feel good about yourself. Yet, the trouble is it’s much easier to be open with a stranger when you’re typing away at a computer. It is not quite the same as having a face-to-face conversation and getting to know someone in person. There is much more opportunity to lie or exaggerate when you’re not in a position to meet up with the other individual.

In a real-life situation, you are immediately aware of whether there is any chemistry between you, which isn’t true when you’ve only conducted a relationship online. Even if you’re both entirely honest with one another, there will undoubtedly be aspects of your personality you highlight, and other aspects you downplay, whether consciously or not. If you only spend an hour or two using instant messenger to communicate or merely send emails on a daily basis, how much can you really find out about a person? At least if you know each other in real life, you will have a better chance to see what they are truly like.

Of course, it can feel as though you’re in love when you can chat via webcam or whilst using instant messenger for hours on end, but, again, you can be quite selective in what you reveal about yourself. Besides, even though you may appear to have chemistry online, there is no guarantee this is going to translate into chemistry when you actually meet. Obviously, when you’re in love, certain chemical reactions take place, and you’re unlikely to experience these when you can’t see, touch or smell the other person. Your personalities may click, but it could turn out that you are not attracted to each other when you meet and that what you have is more of a friendship than romantic.

It might be possible to find someone who you can imagine falling in love with online, but the reality is that you can’t really gauge how you feel about an individual until you have met; had a face-to-face conversation and got to know each other in person.