Do you consider online friendships real friendships?

[Ella]

I spend a lot of time online and I have made friends with people over the years on different forums. I talk to them on a weekly basis and I find myself caring just as much about them as I do my friends I see offline. For me, I consider them to be real friendships. What is your take on it?

[James]

Yes after talking to someone for awhile over the internet you can start considering people friends. There are people I have been talking to for years over the internet only and I would consider them friends myself. We talk about more than just business. 

Typically the ones I talk to consistently that make it into the friend zone we will eventually try to meet. I like public places like Vegas for security still since you have never met the person in real life.

You never know where those long lasting relationships will come from. The internet, work, your kids, video games or anything else. It does not matter how we meet and how we communicate but how that communication makes us feel. 

[Quinten]

Of course. Online relationships can become as real as in person ones. I work a bit online, and I am friends with a lot of people online, some who I voice chat with and do game nights with. That's a big part of my life now, because I am meeting these people all over the world, and it's quite fun. It doesn't matter that they're not here with me in person, I still consider them friends. 

[Sophia]

I consider them real friendships as well but there has to be some level of maintenance that factors into it. If you passively talk to them every now and then online, I wouldn't consider that a friendship but if you keep in touch often and you share details about your lives with each other, then absolutely that is a real friendship.

[Stacey]

Absolutely. I have a few online-only friends and I feel I am better able to open up to them vs my irl friends. I do have a couple where we met online and so see each other in person now as well.