by Vilie Farah

Created on: November 29, 2010

Nearly everyone today has online friends. Online friendships mean the world to some people, while others are far away from the though of accepting such acquaintances seriously.

As most other people, I have few people that I know solely thought our online encounters and communications. Saying that I am truly attached to these people is quite difficult, as some of friendship’s most important attributes are missing.

Is online friendship the real thing? Can it be compared to a real world friendship? I believe that this is the case in very few occasions. Online friendships still have a long way to go, though they provide us with tremendous new opportunities.

~ Online vs. a real world friendship ~
An online friendship happens much easier than a real world friendship does. Two people explore profiles, two people like profiles, two people become ‘friends.’

An online friendship is also easier to maintain than a real world friendship. It is threatened by fewer schemes, daily problems and misunderstandings. It exists in the online realm and is rarely transferred to another level.

Looking for friends online is fun and entertaining but it is taken seriously very rarely. Two people have to ‘click together’ in an extremely fine manner for the online friendship to turn into something else.

~ The definition of an online friendship ~
My definition of an online friendship differs from the manner in which I perceive a real world friendship.

An online friend is someone that you communicate with, whenever possible. True, you can share intimate information and ask for advice but you can rarely experience the proximity that a ‘physical friendship’ brings.

Further, you can have doubts about the personality of an online friend. Many people use the anonymity that the web brings in order to adopt a fake or an exaggerated personality. A degree of skepticism will always affect my decisions, when communicating with someone online.

~ Is it the real thing? ~
For me, an online friendship is not the real thing, though it has the potential to transform into such.

Seeing the person, talking while looking in each other’s eyes, holding hands and hearing each other’s voice adds a whole new dimension to the world of friendship.

Naturally, some people have true and compassionate online friends. They share, they feel as if they have known each other for ages. Yet, I remain somehow distanced. The fear of the internet anonymity is there to haunt me.

~ Has the definition

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