An analysis of online friendships

Internet has changed the way of life of many people ... atleast of those with access to the high speed internet facilities .Most of us do have chat friends ....


But i m quiet sure that with many of us, issues do crop up. Firstly one must check whether the person on the other side is actually the person he/she claims to be. Failure to do this can lead to rather embarassing consequences.

Now there seems to be two categories of people.

1. They distinguish between real and online friends. They treat online friends as aquantainces to pass their time with and consciously keep their real friends at a higher pedestal.

2. These people do not make such a distinction. They seem to believe that the essence of friendship is effective communication, heart to heart.

Meeting face to face is not a prerequisite for that.I feel compatibility issues crop up between people belonging to different categories. The people of category 1 take a longer time to trust the others. This can potentially create a bit of resentment within the other person.

These two people do find it a little difficult to relate.Lack of physical interaction can create other problems. Suppose you said something to a "real" friend. If that person does not respond, you can physically confront him/her. But if you find that your online buddy is not responding to mails or sms', you become hesitant to press further. You are never really sure whether the person belongs to category 1 or 2. You can seldom know with any degree of certainty what that person thinks of you, beyond what you are told by the person himself. So you hesitate in exercising your rights as a friend. People err on the side of caution.So ... these are few of the problems.

What are the solutions ? No idea.

Note 1 : Real and virtual friends are used to refer to non-online and online friends and they do not, in any way, comment on the intensity and quality of the relationship.

Note 2 : Two classes of Individual Dynamics and i am analysing friendships. Wow !! :p