The term "friends" is used loosely these days. When I was young, friends were people you knew and interacted with in person. There was no Internet enabling you to claim friendship with people you'd never met.
Today is different. Social media lets people believe they have hundreds, even thousands of friends. Relationships with online acquaintances, however, are categorically different.
I'm curious about your experience with this subject. If you don't mind discussing it, how many friends do you have in real life versus online? Do you consider people you've never met in person to be friends? How much do you trust online friends?
I have less than twenty five 'friends' on facebook and they are either family, old school friends, people I know through blogging or those I go back years with online through forums.
ReplyDeleteI would say I have three friends of my own away from online, but only one who I am in regular contact with, two are old school friends who I rarely see.
I consider people I know online through blogging, never-met-friends 😊
I've never been Miss Popularity and my online presence reflects this I believe. But I am a nice person. I'm honest, loyal and trustworthy, but this doesn't seem enough sometimes x
It'd be enough for me. Your personality is charming.
DeleteAww thank you, that means ever such a lot x
DeleteThis is a great topic.
ReplyDeleteI had one best friend for 23 years and then she "dropped" me about 3 years ago. I still can't figure out if it was a mid life crisis or what happened.
Prior to that because I've travelled so much I had real life friends but they all live very far away, on the other side of the world and we've lost touch over the years.
If it weren't for my online friends I'd be quite lonely. I do make a point of trying to visit my closest online friends in real life if possible. Like you : )
bisous
Suzanne
Great question. I am not on Facebook, except as a business , and there is no wall for people to see. Most of friend are real life friends, but I do love with the interaction with my blogger friends.
ReplyDeletexx, Elle
http://www.theellediaries.com/blog/
Online people, guys from facebook are not actual 'friends' but sometimes they become real friends.
ReplyDeleteFor me real friends are treasure, they are the family we choose, they may be imperfect but we love them even more for that.
I'm so happy you get to see online friends, actual friends. I think one day I will be able to see you in person :)
You will!
DeleteI have a few really close friends and quite some acquaintances who I have a coffee with or something but wouldn't call at 3am in the morning because I'm having a crisis.
ReplyDeleteThis is what differentiates friends from 'friends', I think!
Have a great day,
-Kati
Almost Stylish
Good thoughts. Thanks, Kati.
DeleteI have a few good offline and online friends and to me there is no difference (only when it comes to friends I consider as really close...actually sometimes it's even easier to open up during an online chat or a phone call). I love my friends, all of them :) Kisses
ReplyDeleteFashion and Cookies - fashion & beauty blog
I'm really honored and appreciative of your friendship, Vale. I hope we meet in person someday.
DeleteI meet a lot of friends through blogging, but I definitely share more intimate info with my friends in real life. I appreciate both for different reasons!
ReplyDeleteMary
www.marymurnane.com
I have awesome real life friends and then a few never-met-online friends who I easily call friends ... of course the number one on the list is you Dear Ally!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate enough to meet one of my blogger friends who lives in Port Elizabeth a couple of months ago so she has become a 'met in person friend' for which I am very grateful.
Of course there will come a day when we do become 'a met in person friend' and I look forward to that day.
I certainly do not count all the contacts on facebook friends but there are some in there like one of my childhood friends who I can only keep in contact with thru facebook as she lives in the States now.
I think facebook makes us lazy when we live in the same country/town as you know what is going on in people's lives so it isn't as important to get together and chat. I just this afternoon had a long overdue coffee with a friend and it took a while to get up to date although I do check her out on facebook when I go on.
Friendship is REALLY important to me!!!
And you are an exceptional friend!
DeleteI actually only call those people friends that I have met in person. I am pretty oldschool I guess :D I do not even have facebook friends which I have not yet met in person.
ReplyDeleteXx
Rosa Larissa Klara
conscious lifestyle of mine
Truth be told, I don't really have friends anymore. I have buddies. People I can invite to parties and events and stuff like that, but no one I can just call or text to talk to if times are tough of if I'd like some company. Most of my friends moved off to other cities one after the other over the span of almost ten years and no one has really bothered to keep in touch. I had a BFF but I had to cut her loose about five years ago because she was becoming very immature and incredibly intolerant of my Christianity. Meh, she wasn't a very mentally stable person anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think we need new words for friends. There are the people I see every day and the people I interact with online, and they all get lumped under the friend word.
ReplyDeleteYes! That's the solution. Our language has not kept up with our social relations. Brilliant idea.
DeleteOh, hey, that's me! I have about 6-7 in real life close girl-friends, then about 20 next-level acquaintances. I don't do anything online other than my blog, and even then, only a few of my fellow bloggers would I consider friends - mostly the people I've met (from the meet-up!), including you, of course, Ally!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sheila. I value that. It took me years of effort to crack through your shell!
DeleteI use the term as loosely as anyone really... but in actuality I've had Online 'Friends' who I have more contact with than in the flesh ones and seem more Invested in each other's daily lives because of frequent contact and knowing what's really going on with each other rather than 'catching up' after extended absences in Real Life. There are few people I'd say I would or could count on to call at 3 in the Morning to pick me up at a bus station, those types of Friendships are Rare indeed, hold onto them if you have them, I've been Blessed to have had some in this Lifetime. But who wants to say all the time "my Acquaintance so-and-so" so I'll probably continue to use the word Friend loosely to just describe peeps I happen to like a lot and have some relationship with... smiles... Dawn... The Bohemian
ReplyDeleteI love this topic so much... and you may have just inspired a blog post about this very same thing (if you don't mind, of course!) :)
ReplyDeleteI have friends that I've known nearly my entire life... some I met in college, others at work... and then of course there is a new category (new, as in the past 10 years or so) of online friends. Some aren't nearly as strong as others, but I've met so many people (you are included!) that I think of fondly and that I would consider a dear, sweet friend because of the light they shine in my life. :)
Go for it! This topic needs more discussion.
DeleteI definitely call my blogger/internet friends my friends, but generally only if I have a back and forth report with them. I definitely love everyone who reads my stuff, comments back, etc. It is possible to have a great long distance friendship. But I grew up with multiple penpals and I still consider those people my friends, so the faster version of internet communication is just as nice as meeting people as snail mail or even in person. At least online I can 'vet' people against what I like and dislike, as opposed to simply foisting myself on someone in person and expecting to make automatic friends.
ReplyDeleteI almost mentioned pen-pals in the post as the closest historical precedent to online friends. It doesn't surprise me that you were a snail-mail pen-pal -- I'll bet you were a GOOD one!
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