Friendship online: a blessing or a hazard in disguise?

You raise an excellent point. I do try to keep lunch dates and phone people when time allows. I keep in touch by "snail mail" as often as I can as well. It is true that most people converse online and there is a significant amount of missed communication through touch, voice and physical presence. We have to learn to make time for those precious moments and not just rely on the internet. A virtual hug will never replace a real heart-felt hug.

I'm actually not interested in meeting people from internet interactions.

For example I love several board games, but my friends don't want to play games or are too busy. So I go to Yahoo, The Zone, etc and can play games at anytime day or night. I can converse or not.

I do not want my name on the internet, so I use an alias and my free email account is under that name.

Now I actually have made a 7 yr friend over the internet from one of the game sites. She's older then I am and she sent me her 6 page resume and I trimmed it down to two pages and told her to get it down to one page. While we communicated online she went from almost broke, back to school, bought an almost new car, gave up smoking and started a good career. I am so amazed at her.

We have exchanged gifts on birthdays and Christmas. And I even met her male friend when he was in my area. I have never met her, but we've talked on the phone.

This friendship has been great, but I still have no interest to meet anyone via the internet.

Technology's power is one more power of connecting with people - some of whom we do not know - over long distances. And sometimes it's actually easier to talk to strangers about things your next-door neighbor might condemn you for.

Personally I don't have qualms, because how much control you give up is what you choose. It's up to you. I notice your whole full name is up there, and you full face. Some people are confident with that. Me? If I want to ask a personal question, I would prefer I would not be pinpointed on the map.

I have friends all across the country, from different decades of my life. I find that the ones I've stayed closest to over the years are those who use email as much, or almost as much, as I do. We also see each other, and chat on the phone, but keeping that connection really helps.

Well -- I see this in an entirely different way. I think the net has defined the new way to make friends. For me, it has been the BEST avenue to meet others at this stage of life and to narrow down those to whom you see the world in the same way. This leads to more and more interaction until you eventually talk on the phone, meet in person and become "real life" friends. By that I mean, we talk regularly on the phone, text often and travel to each other's homes. Was I just lucky to encounter this group? I don't know, You do have to put yourself out there and share stuff or there really isn't any basis to really get to know each other.

Anita, what an interesting story. Your experience shows that there are new, fulfilling ways to be friends that don't involve getting together. I've suspected this for a while, but haven't yet formed such a close and continuing bond online. Maybe the fact of not meeting gives some of these 21st century friendships their special quality.

Me too. My best friends are scattered from here to Seattle... how the heck are we going to keep up with each other's antics if not by virtue of an online circle of friends? Plus, instead of making four phone calls I can send one email to all of them and then we "chat" endlessly with each other on the topic! The banter is great!