Internet friendship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with friendship. (Discuss)

Internet friendships are friendships between people who have met online, and in some cases know each other only via the Internet. Online friendships are similar in many ways to penpal relationships and, like internet romance, they have been widely debated and often criticised.

It is arguably very difficult for people to establish meaningful relationships with those they can't see or interact with. Without verbal and physical cues that assist in gauging a person's emotions and feelings, there is a high possibility of deception. Since the development of high-speed, broadband internet, the face of Internet friendships has changed significantly. It is possible to hold real-time audio and video conversations over the Internet (creating telepresence), providing additional levels of interactivity beyond plain text.

Still, use of these technologies is not always feasible or convenient, and some people may prefer not to use them.

As in any matter involving human interpersonal relationships, the outcomes of such relationships can vary widely. There have been many cases where relationships that began as online romances led to meetings and long term relationships or marriage. In cases where people in a relationship are geographically separate, the relationship can often be started or continued online, which some people call online relationships or internet relationships (in some cases for some time between an initial meeting and one of those involved moving), this bears significant similarity to long distance relationships which were maintained over other forms of long distance communication in the past, including telephonic or penpal relationships. It has been argued that the development of the internet added a significant enhancement to long distance relationships (regardless of whether those involved had met physically) because it allows for much more frequent and personal conversation than any previous technology had, thereby reducing some of the difficulties associated with traditional long distance relationships. Some have even argued that it is in some ways preferable, since couples who meet online are forced to spend a significant part of their early time in the relationship on conversation, rather than sexuality, thus developing the emotional and interpersonal side of the relationship more deeply than is commonly the case in traditional intimate relationships. This argument is particularly used by couples who met and established successful long-term physical relationships at least initially online.

Because of the easy deception online, many people frown upon a relationship formed online. It's because many do not trust people they meet online, even when the person in question is being honest. On the internet, it's easy to find a picture of someone else (many people just Google the pictures) and use it for yourself. Information is easly altered, and many people lie about their age, their gender and the way they look like. They create an online persona when they chat to other people. While many people do this, some people are still honest when they talk online, but because of the easy deception many people are weary about people they meet online. When two people do meet each other online, and are being honest with each other, there are still people who will frown upon their relationship and disgard them as being real. They will think the relationship is a joke and won't take it serious. Online relationships like these have often been critisized on internet forums, causing a lot of debates about the realness of the relationship. Because in an online relationship there is no physical touch, people use that in a debate to show the relationship is not real because the couple can not touch.

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.