The Value of Internet Friendships and “In Real Life” Friendships

[Croconaw]

Certain people seem to value internet friendships less than in person friendships. Is there a difference between knowing somebody online and actually knowing somebody in person? Do you value in person friendships more because you actually see the person? Do you consider your online friends to actually be friends, or do you treat them more like acquaintances? This seems to be a common debate.

I love all of my online friends. I met my best friend online, and nope, I have never met her in person. Does that make her less of a best friend to me? No, it does not. I love her just as much as people love their best friend in person. I also have several friends online who I feel very comfortable around. I find it so much easier to be myself because you can?t be judged online for your appearance. Nobody really knows our past online, so you could never be judged based on your past.

Is there really a difference, in your opinion, between internet friends and ?in real life? friendships? Do you believe internet friends should be less valued over ?in real life? friends, or are all types of friendships equal?

 

[Midoriya]

I consider my online relationships and in real life relationships the same. I know that may be a bad thing, but I consider them all as friends who I love, and would go out of my way to try to help, even with just words for a little bit. So I value them equally.

 

[tumut]

Internet friends are generally cooler I hate normies but society forces me to cope with them so I just do.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I go outside btw.

 

[Loubelle]

I've always valued online friends as if they were real life friends. I remember a couple years back, one of my friends in real life kept getting mad at me for valuing a friendship with someone online that I didn't know, but whether you've only known them online or you've seen them before, they are friends all the same I met this girl on ACNL roughly 2 years ago, and we've still kept in touch c:

 

[LambdaDelta]

real life friendships? what mythical creatures are those?

 

[Buttonsy]

I think that it's silly to value them less than in-person friendships. The second longest friendship of my life is with someone I met online, who I've been speaking to almost everyday for nearly a decade. We can be very open with each other, have a lot of fun chatting and playing games, and in general, while I do often wish we could hang out in person, I don't think our friendship is really lacking anything just because we can't.

 

[ali.di.magix]

When I was younger, as bad as it seems, I didn't consider online friendships equal. I don't know why, I just never felt any attachment even though they did. Fast forward to now I definitely don't consider them any less, I love my online friends just as much if not more than my irl friends ^^

 

[Chris]

There was a point where I valued my online friends over people I knew IRL - that encompassed my entire teens through to age 24. I started to hate feeling as if I was living my life through a phone or computer and it was having a terrible impact on my mental health. In the past year or so I've overhauled my life and started to build an offline circle of friends and that just feels so much more satisfactory. There are exceptions of course (most of whom are TBT users coincidentally) but for the most part I've redirected the time and energy spent talking to people online into people I either know in person or have met/intend to meet at an IRL event - i.e. a gig. My life feels so much richer for it.

That probably sounds like I don't value my online friendships at all. I do. But the amount of people I talk to online and truly consider to be a real friend has greatly decreased compared to what it used to be - which falls in line with spending significantly less time online.

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

Ppl are super ****ing cool online its easier to find people who have ur sense of humor and interests and whatnot. There are like two people i know irl who are cool but its just not the same :\

 

[blushpeony]

...

 

[Underneath The Stars]

In this day and age, it's the same. No question about it. There are friendships irl that fade away, either due to moving away to a different country or changing school or job, whatever-- and if this happens, it's more likely that you'd keep in touch with them through the means of the internet or mobile. So what difference does it make now? I have friends irl I haven't seen in years but do catch up through social media. It's not that different than friends online that I still talk to for years. The internet was made to connect people after all. There are advantages & disadvantages, but the advantages easily trump the bad side of the internet (which is completely avoidable).

A few years back, I can understand why some of us would feel different towards it. But it's time for everyone to just accept that things have changed. Even adults & elders are actively a part of the internet now. Connecting with people around the globe so easily... it's something we shouldn't take for granted.

I consider my online relationships and in real life relationships the same. I know that may be a bad thing, but I consider them all as friends who I love, and would go out of my way to try to help, even with just words for a little bit. So I value them equally.

No it's not a bad thing, don't worry!

 

[visibleghost]

dang i havent been close 2 people in so long this is sad. i used to b bullied irl and have great friends online so i valued the online friends more than the real life relationships i had. but idk i dont think one form of friendship id better or worse than the other, some people you can hang w and have great fun w but other friendshisp r better in an online chat

 

[Acruoxil]

They're all equal, it's just I feel closer to my irl friends cuz I can spend more time with them in person and do more things. It's not the same behind the screen.

 

[Croconaw]

I definitely value all my friendships equally. It is definitely not a bad thing to value both online friendships and in-real-life friendships equally!

 

[Bosmer]

I value internet and rl friendships the same. One of my best friends was from online and we met around 10 years ago, still talking to this day. She lives in another country but we did meet up in rl, stayed at my place for few days and we got matching tattoos together. The only downside of course is that she lives in another country.

Whereas my best friend in rl it just feels different I guess? like shes great and everything but there isn't that kind of spark and we've known eachother for like 8 years.

 

[nanpan]

I definitely value online friends more, you just open up easier when you're not face to face. With in real life friends it's just easier to chill with and not really talk about anything that deep.

 

[cornimer]

I value them equally. It depends on the bond I have with the person, not on whether it's online or irl. I met my best friend online.

 

[Hopeless Opus]

i value my online friendships the same as my real life friendships. at least the online friends remember my birthday, lmao.

 

[nintendofan85]

I would honestly admit that I wasn't as attached to online friendships around 2011-2013 as I was to the ones I had IRL. But, I won't lie, a big reason for this is that I took the online friends I had for granted, which did in turn make it harder for me to make friendships when I first started seriously using forums in 2013 and 2014. The truth is, I had so few friends IRL that I valued them immensely. However, in the spring of 2014, when I was stabbed in the back by a guy who was once my best friend when I was in 6th grade in 2011 and 2012, and despite the fact that our friendship seemed to be going back to where it was in the second half of 2013, in April 2014 he basically made it clear that he didn't want to be a friend of mine anymore. This, alongside the fact that I was rejected by a girl I had strong feelings for and that I lost my grandfather a month later (and those two events happened within days of each other), caused me to value my online friendships a lot more starting in mid-2014. Eventually, by the late part of that year, I was starting to have a lot of drama with the friends I had IRL, which got worse during most of my freshman year of high school in late 2014 and early 2015, and finally in early-mid 2015 everything became literal hell with a certain IRL friend after I tried to distance myself from him. This really made me value Internet friendships more, as I had never had to deal with that type of insanity from my online friends.
After I lost two more good friends just this past August whom I had been friends with for ten years, I realized that unfortunately friendships can crumble under circumstances that are out of your control. I really appreciate the online friends I have now, and I've gotten to have a lot more since 2014, and especially since 2016.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I personally value friendships more when they're in person, but my current best friend is someone I only know from talking to him online. I have very few friends in my life, so the people online are really special to me and I definitely value that.

Everyone I'm friends with on this site, are actually friends to me, because I know that everyone on this site is a real person with a real life. The only time I would consider someone online an acquaintance is if I talk to them but not much, just like I would in person.


The only bad thing about having friends online, is that if my parents were to find out, they would complete flip their lid and tell me that I royally screwed up and blah blah blah (even though I've been active here for almost 2 years and nothing's happened). I know who to watch for online, and I know to not just talk to people and tell them personal info. I haven't even revealed my real name on this site!