Yes, they are real friends.
I've had whole sagas with online friends, suffering with them, learning with them, teaching them, fighting with words for them, arguing with them, opposing them, supporting and forgiving. Everything you could have in a physical relationship, just minus touching or hugging, which aren't really common in a male's friendships anyway.
Some of my online friends know me better than my best physical world friends. And nope, that doesn't make me sad, it's just how things have evolved.
Yes, some of them could be a bit too different to fit into my physical world social life, but I think I would welcome them quite easily if any of the closer ones said they were coming to my country and wanted to meet (most are from America). As long as you take the safety precautions like meeting in a public place, and make sure you don't have too many preconceptions, all usually goes well.
I think it's sad that people judge online connections as lesser just on the basis of a lack of physical contact. It's true that we can't hug, and there is some comfort in doing so which you can end up missing if you only have online friendships, but it's hardly the basis for a friendship in modern Western society.
Really, there's no problem or challenge in it until you and a female online friend become more than friends. Then it can be hard, but even that should not be called unreal.
I've had whole sagas with online friends, suffering with them, learning with them, teaching them, fighting with words for them, arguing with them, opposing them, supporting and forgiving. Everything you could have in a physical relationship, just minus touching or hugging, which aren't really common in a male's friendships anyway.
Some of my online friends know me better than my best physical world friends. And nope, that doesn't make me sad, it's just how things have evolved.
Yes, some of them could be a bit too different to fit into my physical world social life, but I think I would welcome them quite easily if any of the closer ones said they were coming to my country and wanted to meet (most are from America). As long as you take the safety precautions like meeting in a public place, and make sure you don't have too many preconceptions, all usually goes well.
I think it's sad that people judge online connections as lesser just on the basis of a lack of physical contact. It's true that we can't hug, and there is some comfort in doing so which you can end up missing if you only have online friendships, but it's hardly the basis for a friendship in modern Western society.
Really, there's no problem or challenge in it until you and a female online friend become more than friends. Then it can be hard, but even that should not be called unreal.
