Today I?d like to talk a little bit about friends. No, I don?t mean Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Monica, Joey and Phoebe.
I was recently told that a ?real? friend is someone you can see face-to-face, someone you can meet for coffee, someone you can call when you have a flat tire. Considering the fact that I have a couple of very close friends who I?ve known for a decade that were met right here on the www, I?ll have you know: it didn?t sit well with me at all.
Do you have to be in the same geographic location in order to have a ?real? relationship with someone? Are relationships that are found and built online not real because of this? Are they not as valid or important as that friend you can meet up with on a moment?s notice? Am I wasting my time nurturing a relationship with someone I?ve met online because I should be spending that time nurturing a relationship IRL?
This question of real life friendships vs internet life friendships has been asked and debated many times before (just google it and you?ll find plenty of results) but I?d love for you guys to weigh in on this. What do you think? Is there a difference to you? Of course I?m not talking about every person you know online but do you have certain relationships that you?ve long since dropped the ?internet? and simply refer to as friends? Do you even have anyone at all that you refer to as an ?Internet friend??? Oh, that?s Sally. She?s my Internet Friend. Maybe it?s just me, but? huh?
??the internet is full of lively minded, like-minded engaging people ? for the first time in history we?re lucky enough to choose friends not by location or luck, but pinpoint perfect friends by rounding up people with amazingly similar interests, matching politics, senses of humour, passionate feelings about the most infinitesimally tiny hobby communities. The friends I have now might be spread wide, geographically, but I?m closer to them than anyone I went to school with, by about a million miles.? quote from this article.
Of course we all have more than a few handfuls of people that are just online friends, simply acquaintances, people you regularly chat with through one social media outlet or another, but that aren?t anyone you?d look to for real support or share your intimate thoughts with. But there are other friendships ? and hopefully you?ve had the good fortune to meet face-to-face ? but even if you haven?t, they?re certainly important people in your life, people you?d absolutely call a real friend. And the fact that you don?t live in the same town, city, state or even country, has no impact on how much you value this person in your life and vice versa. And when you have a flat tire, you call a tow truck ? but maybe that?s just me.
Do you have internet friends that you?ve dropped the ?internet? from? Do you think these relationships are capable of being just as valid as those that are face-to-face? OR, do you think it?s complete hogwash to call an internet relationship real, and an internet friend will always be an Internet Friend!
What say you, friend? 
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Source: http://www.frecklewonder.com/2012/09/19/friends
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