Published on 12, July, 2020
What is the difference between 'knowing' in real life and 'knowing' online?
Do they both count as much as each other, these 2 very different types of connection?
I've read on here a post which I felt devalued the connections we have here.
I find them rather valuable.
I think my in person life connections are more 'corporeal' but they are also more problematic and draining of my limited resources.
They also tend to be with allistics.
What do you think?
Back in the day, before the internet, we used to have things called pen pals where you'd be matched up with a stranger and get to know each other by writing letters, some got on, some didn't , some created life long friendships including visits often to other countries, I don't see online friends as being any different. I had one at primary school, our class teacher had a friend who taught in America and they matched us up.
I find online and written communication more thoughtful than face to face, there are to many distractions when you've got someone in front of you. But I always fear meeting people who I have online friendships with, that we really won't get on and that it will feel like a double loss, one of the online friendship and the other of the face to face meeting.
TheCatWoman said:But I always fear meeting people who I have online friendships with, that we really won't get on and that it will feel like a double loss, one of the online friendship and the other of the face to face meeting.
I had a few instances of this happening. We seemingly got along when we were messaging on social media, but when we met it was as though we had nothing to say to each other. It wasn't anyone's fault but it was really uncomfortable.
I don't know if you can avoid it, apart from really questioning how much you value said online friendship to want to meet that person IRL. If your communication styles are massively different when texting, that might be a sign.