Online Friendship! The term ‘online friendship’ is a very lovable and hated word as well. There is a huge void which has been created between offline friends and online Friends. Is there any difference? Lets analyze. The chat phenomena started with the advent of ICQ, IRC and various chat rooms like rediff, yahoo etc! Thousands of people used to visit these chat rooms looking to make friends! In the world there is a good and a bad and so does the technology. This became the avenue for despos and perverts.
This is where I have a Point of view. Why do we generalize things? Due to these elements ‘online friends’ were started to be looked upon in a very suspicious way. If you used to tell your family or friends that you are chatting, they used to think that we are doing something really bad and were looked down upon. Now, in the world there are two kinds of people, Introverts and extroverts! Introverts were the ones who used the online space extensively to make new friends as they were comfortable making friends behind the scenes! What is their fault if they found it comfortable? I personally have made a lot of online friends’ and I dont see any harm in that.
Even today I have friends who advice me to restrain myself while making friends and have heard other tales where people have been told to not become friends with me just because I met he/she online. Aren’t there trustworthy people online? About a year back, I started blogging and tweeting and have found some very good friends there. Be it my blogging friends (the list is just too long) or the people whom I have met on twitter, became friends & nw meet up often. I agree that eventually you need to meet the online friends offline but why shy away from making online friends? Lemme know what my friends think?
it’s all about perspective and personal preferences.
True and agreed 🙂 But Perceptions and preferences can always change, can’t they?
Certainly.
I guess each person has a different level of openness to meeting online friends and sometimes I am sure that the friendship may even turn into a solid real life one…it all depends on many things ! And yet one should not be so careless and not sensible either…that is what I’d advise my own kids, and so I should probably be an example to them myself in how I handle things right? But it is truly lucky of you to have met and made some new friends via this medium and kudos to you!
If not for blogs and BlogAdda I wouldn’t have been conversing with you :). So lucky to know more about awesome people like you. This is the power I believe.
But as you rightly said, we need to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong but not shy away completely. Once again Indy, thanks for pushing me 🙂
Aw!!! How sweet of you…and I’m glad a little pushing has got you back into blogging…you write well! 🙂 thanks
Very Good….just keep up the great blogging !!!!!! 🙂
Danke . “Yeh toh trailer hain, pikchur abhi baaki hain mere dost ”
You know my opinion of this very well 🙂
I’ve met some great blog friends like Sakhi, Reema, Nikhil, Scorpria, etc. the list is endless, out of which I’ve stayed over at Sakhi’s place for two nights!! That’s the level of trust we have! 🙂 I’ve met lovely people on Twitter too! It all depends on how you perceive things. It also largely depends on the purpose you use the Internet for. Most people who claim to make friends have another intention in mind; this gives birth to the notion that online friends are bad (perverts/”despos”). But over a period of time, you understand what kind of people you should trust and what kind you should keep away from!
To people who feel the Internet’s a bad place:You should come and experience it for yourself before making any judgements or jumping to conclusions. It’s just like any other medium. It has the good and the bad both. It all depends on what you choose.
I’d never have met you if it weren’t for Nikhil and I’d never have met Nikhil if it weren’t for blogging!
So thank God for the Internet! 🙂
Couldnt agree with you more on this … in the past couple of yrs i’ve made/met some amazing people who’ve become good friends thru the online world.. Yes, i’ve had my share of creeps and wierdos, but what the heck, i would never deter from tryin to get to know a new person..
As they say , a stranger is a friend in the making!!! 🙂
Agree 🙂 ‘A stranger is a friend in the making’ is the perfect line 🙂
there are crows everywhere !!! arent there and so are doves… its our luck who we land upon !!!
however I must say that chat rooms used to have a lot crows and I havent gone to one since about 2-3 years !!!
bloggers have been more real as far as I am concerned.. plus reading about what they write over a period of time gives us more of an idea who do we want to connect with and whom we do not.. unlike chats where you gotta talk to know each other… !
I have made the most wonderful friends online.. in the last 3 years ever since I shifted my city and started spending more time online !!!!
I have met a few bloggers and we are friends for life !!! there are a few I havent met and yet we are friends for life !!!! 😀 😀
I know hitchu :)!! Aapka poora chhitha hain na 😀. It is amazing to have friends like you! BTW I met Sujith 🙂
True! Its not about being online or offline rather its about intelligently tax on this WWW medium. Everyone knows how internet has been boon for this age. But we should not forget that everything good in access certainly rob-off the benefits.
People are able to get wider reach,connect and emote well now. Its the choice of individual, that decides the benefits of online and offline mode. Though attimes some people look at it in narrow sense and start demeaning online mode.
Completely Agree Neha :)!
Nice topic to pick 🙂 I have made quite a few great online friends – thanks to my blogging (ok… I confess am not active now !) You absolutely included on the list. I must say that I have not come across negative elements in due course – touchwood. I feel that one must give online friendship a chance, if it does not work out – well block the other person. No harm done, right? I have not made many twitter friends though…
Anyways point is I like my online friends 😀
Agreed!! We have become great friends just because of your blog 🙂 Aparna! Glad to have you here and as always I am just a call away 😀
I have made amazing friends online. And i do see such reactions when i tell them about my online friends..
Frankly i dont know how I would have survived in Bangalore if it wasnt for my online friends…. I am a kind of a person who gets depressed if I cant talk to my friends.. and the distance etc made my earlier relationship.. a bit removed ( or whatever) but now I have enough friends in Bangalore whose presence is so much offline that there can b no distinction of being online or offline!
One of the gems whom I have met online and her poems are just awesome! A girl who can just keep on talking and I can assure you you will never get bored! Atleast I did not! Missed meeting you at Bangalore but there is always the next time!!
Well observed and written. Even I shall vouch for online frndships. I have met some talented and interesting people on the internet. It is much easier to connect and learn. Once the basic trust is structured you can take it offline. To admit, I had a fling with a person I met online and was very special. You need not have to wait for someone at work to connect or get introduced via frnds or any of that crap. Just go ahead, start conversing with a person u find interesting and whola! U got ur new buddy.
We have a lot to share I guess when we meet which is pretty soon 😀 . TRUST is the key factor!!
I agree with Dhiren, blogs tell us a lot about the person writing them, and there is more chance of finding real friends through blogs than through chats. I have never visited a chatroom but twitter and blogs have introduced some wonderful people 🙂
I second that! Blogger friends rock! 😀
Hey Aswathy, Thanks a lot for dropping in, None of us have disagreed here about Online friendship which means Blogger friends rock and lucky to have a found a friend in you.
Yes, Blogs and Twitter have introduced me to awesome people like you. You are someone I admire because your blog and your comments reflect your personality! We gotta meet in this Decade 😀
thats a very interesting post Harish:)
to be honest I used to be very wary of online friendships (courtesy chat rooms and the like) but blogging changed my opinion about all of that 🙂
Though I have to say that giving virtual hugs and being friendly is different from what we would do in real life… In real life I woudl want to meet very few people from the online world..simply because I go with my instincts…
and sometimes even if a friend doesn’t feel comfortable meeting me in real thast okay too:)
every person should have their private space…
but yes I would say that I have met some of the most geuine and sincere people in this blogworld…and like IHM and Dhiren say that blogs tell us a lot about the person writing them thats very true… I too believe in this 🙂
but sometimes even the best of us get fooled into believing things that are actually not part of the blogger’s persona at all 🙂
and thats why Indy’s advice is good 🙂 and one to keep in mind that one should not be careless and foolhardy at all….
and finally after that ramble, here’s to Aarti’s words
A stranger is a friend in the making 🙂
Cheers to that thought 🙂
Indyeah!! What can I say!!! First of all I am one of the happiest person now for all the things that have happened in your Life. PM bahut lucky hain! I still remember the day when I first read your interview and I was in Awe! Our Long Mail threads are still treasured by me. Ab toh DIlli aana padega for you and IHM 😀
😀 bilkul aaiye Dilli 😀
I think there is a big difference between online friends and local friends. With local friends it’s the real deal. With online friends it would be the real deal if they were close by.
That’s my 2 cents on the matter.