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Is a Virtual Freind Still a Freind?
Think of this:
You get a call that your mother has been rushed to the hospital for a burst colon and later on learn that she has passed away from complications. It’s a huge blow and before the Internet a person in this situation would rally around their family and friends, even if it meant driving hundreds of miles.
Yesterday I received the very news that I described above and, while I did stay in constant telephone contact with my family (I live several hundred miles away), I found that the internet was an invaluable tool as well.
I frequent Chris’ chat room and have for several years. Even though I have never met anyone in the chat room in real life, I consider several of them friends and confidants. Kat, Mouse and a handful of other chatters I feel I have come to know well, even though we do not know what each other looks like.
It got me thinking about online chatting and the way it has changed the world, the way we communicate and what is defined as friendship. When I first started chatting online it was through AOL, before broadband. AOL, at that time, billed per hour through your home phone bill. I was a regular at a local chat room and we got together at a local convention center one day. It was big news and several papers and television news stations did a story on how these “strangers” were getting together to meet.
As I stated before, I consider several of the chatters in Chris’ chat room to be friends and they proved it earlier today by offering heart felt condolences and support, the likes of which used to only be received from family and real life, close friends.
So what is friendship today? Communication today is not limited by distance or tethered by a phone line. Is the physical meeting of someone required to become a friend, a true friend? Today it has been proven, to me at least, that it does not matter if you have ever met a person in real life to call them a friend. The caring, the love, the true meaning of a friend can be transmitted through the broadband cable lines and over wireless Internet signals and be just as strong.
Am I a geek for calling my online contacts true friends? You bet I am, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! A big thank you goes out to all of the chatters at Lockergnome who have shown me they care and have extended a hand or a shoulder to cry on.
I will be going to my mother’s funeral tomorrow and I know that I will take each one of my online friends with me in spirit. They give me strength to deal with the hard time ahead and I am forever grateful.
You get a call that your mother has been rushed to the hospital for a burst colon and later on learn that she has passed away from complications. It’s a huge blow and before the Internet a person in this situation would rally around their family and friends, even if it meant driving hundreds of miles.
Yesterday I received the very news that I described above and, while I did stay in constant telephone contact with my family (I live several hundred miles away), I found that the internet was an invaluable tool as well.
I frequent Chris’ chat room and have for several years. Even though I have never met anyone in the chat room in real life, I consider several of them friends and confidants. Kat, Mouse and a handful of other chatters I feel I have come to know well, even though we do not know what each other looks like.
It got me thinking about online chatting and the way it has changed the world, the way we communicate and what is defined as friendship. When I first started chatting online it was through AOL, before broadband. AOL, at that time, billed per hour through your home phone bill. I was a regular at a local chat room and we got together at a local convention center one day. It was big news and several papers and television news stations did a story on how these “strangers” were getting together to meet.
As I stated before, I consider several of the chatters in Chris’ chat room to be friends and they proved it earlier today by offering heart felt condolences and support, the likes of which used to only be received from family and real life, close friends.
So what is friendship today? Communication today is not limited by distance or tethered by a phone line. Is the physical meeting of someone required to become a friend, a true friend? Today it has been proven, to me at least, that it does not matter if you have ever met a person in real life to call them a friend. The caring, the love, the true meaning of a friend can be transmitted through the broadband cable lines and over wireless Internet signals and be just as strong.
Am I a geek for calling my online contacts true friends? You bet I am, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! A big thank you goes out to all of the chatters at Lockergnome who have shown me they care and have extended a hand or a shoulder to cry on.
I will be going to my mother’s funeral tomorrow and I know that I will take each one of my online friends with me in spirit. They give me strength to deal with the hard time ahead and I am forever grateful.
Comment
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Comment by Linnette on January 18, 2010 at 12:56pm -
My condolences to you my dear, hang in there eventhougt it seems like a nightmare now, it will get better with time, my mother too passed away and I still miss her.
I do believe that online friends are "real" friends, proof to that is that my Fiance' and I met online, I've gotten the best advice in life from ppl on the web than even my syblings. They love you no matter what, but at times can be disruptive or hypocritical when it comes life lessons, my online "family" are very objective and often times can open my eyes to things that other wise I would not have doubted if the comment came from my syblings.
So to that YES my online friends are my Very Real Friends.
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Comment by Glenn on January 18, 2010 at 12:27pm -
My condolences to you. I lost my mother quite a while back and know how it feels.
I agree with you. I have been on social sites for years; Ask-It Here, until it disappeared, and most recently neoBrainformation. I have a great many online friends that I've never met but love dearly. We support each other, joke with each other, and are "always there" for each other through bad as well as good.
Just as in life, there will be good people and bad; there will be those who will try to scam you as well as those who honestly want to help. It matters not the medium of the meeting...on line or face to face...you will still need to find out where they're coming from. The only way you can find it out is by "feeling them out" through conversation, whether the spoken or typed word. Facial expressions and the way they hold themselves (i.e., visual cues) help in this, but only through many and long conversations can you truly grasp their intent.
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Comment by Jack McEvoy on January 18, 2010 at 9:14am -
Yes i have had a couple really good online friends on some games. The only problem with gaming friends is that they usually start playing a different game that you don't like then the friendship fall apart =/
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Comment by Greg on January 17, 2010 at 9:27am -
I have made many online friends with a few extending to real life. These friends have been supportive, constructive and "real" over the years. Friendship is a very subjective term, but i believe these relationships are true for those who explore them.
Many condolences to you and yours Tedd !
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Comment by Lewis on January 16, 2010 at 4:12pm
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And... Ted, I'm truly sorry for your loss. We don't know each other, not even as email or blog or chat friends, but that can always change. I hope God comforts you in this time you're going through. God bless...
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I used to chat and exchange emails with a lot of people (about 12 to 15 years ago. Then, one day, a lady sent me an email asking if I was interested in being friends, although she lived at least 300 miles from me. I told her, the distance was just an inconvenience and nothing we couldn't overcome by giving of ourselves to each other. She decided to write - and write - and write - actually, she wrote books, that were sent as emails, but I learned a lot about her. We became very close, and guess what? She's now my wife, and has been for the past 10 years. By far, the best thing that's ever come into my life. That's her in my picture beside this comment (and of course, the cowboy is me). Isn't she a beauty?!
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Comment by JS on January 16, 2010 at 4:20am -
I'm so sorry for your loss, Tedd. Friends are friends - even if you've never met them. I'm there for you.
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Comment by Dmitri on January 16, 2010 at 4:10am -
Tedd, Sorry for your loss. And you can call me your friend any day. :)
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Comment by Vax Prime on January 16, 2010 at 1:27am -
I just read about you for the first time in Chris', Ezine and I have to agree with you that some of the best friends I have was made and exists only online, and in my case since I'm based in Africa mostly very far away, but none the less honest, good and real friends.
My sympathies in this very difficult time.
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Comment by Nate Onprasert on January 16, 2010 at 12:15am -
Online friend is 1/2, when you get to know meet someone face to face you earn aother 1/4...
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