Friends: IRL vs Internet

[JurseyRider734]

My friends think it's funny when I tell them I have online friends. It's kind of embarassing. I just think it's weird telling them that FFR is a big part of my life.

[Thassodar]

Originally Posted by SqNtz_xoombotvx

I find online friends to be more on-task than regular friends. Maybe that's because I live in Montana.

What is a Montana?

But seriously I don't have many friends online because I will probably never see or meet them in person. I do have many aquaintances in the FFR chat room though, a few of them I would consider friends. More than half of my friends on my AIM buddy list are people I know in real life.

[Mindfields]

Dude You're In Arlington Lets Play Ddr Together Omg

[iBreakDanceNotHearts]

FFR IS my life. Lmao.

[hydrojakep]

Originally Posted by LordKratosAurion

A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend, no matter if you are 5 minutes away, or 5,000 miles away.

What I don't understand is why some people act all big and strong over the internet, threatening to kill someone they will never meet. =S

You can do this to people on the internet, because you know nothing bad can come of it. Do that to someone in real life and you're going to jail.

Originally Posted by TIkimanJr

Internet friends are not always what they seem irl

exactly.


People on the internet act different than in real life. In real life you probably wouldnt know i was me. Everyone assumes everyone on ffr is a nerd who you can point out from pictures, but that's not true. Friends on the internet drift apart as jurs said, and it has happened a lot. For some reason, someone will stop getting online for a period of time, in the mean time you make fun of them behind their back, then they come back and you realise that when they were being made fun of in the chat room, they were right. It's all just text. IRL friends are there for you. You'll remember IRL friends in ten years, i doubt i'll remember LD when i quit FFR. LD's a great example of this drifting thing. Although i never talked about him behind his back, we havent had an actual conversation (well as far as you get on the internet) in a long time.


People act different on the internet than real life. Usually people are more outgoing on the internet (i've had that happen with girls from my school, they'd be all flirty but completely avoid me in real life (no i didnt go out with them)).

I'm not saying internet friends arent important. They're still there for you and they're cool people irl, but it's all just text. You need IRL friends more.


This being said you can talk to your IRL friends over the internet, and if they're good at internets, then that's awesome. You get the best of both worlds.

[jujo07]

For me it all depends. IRL friends are awesome in their own ways. They accept you for who you are, at least in my experiences. When I was 13, I met a person who was 17 at the time. He and I grew to be really close friends, but he never asked my age, he just assumed. He never would have guessed I was 13 until I told him, and even then he still doubted me. Real life people that are 4 years older than you normally wouldn't go up to you and talk to you.

I'm also friends with a few people from FFR and 1 of them I talk almost every other day with. I can honestly say that I will remember him and always try and keep in touch with him for a long time to come. I know I can say the same about my real life friends too, but it will be harder to do so because most of them don't use the computer too often. Where as Internet friends kind of already have the dedication of being your friend, and know what it takes.

[dunlop]

I don't really consider an internet friend my "friend". The fact that I don't really even know what the person looks like makes it tough. I do however know what most of the people look like, but then you still have the problem with never actually meeting them. You don't really get to see how they act in many situations, and a lot of the time, they will probably act a little differently. It's just not the same thing. If someone over the internet is having a problem, you can only do so much. You're limited only interacting throught the internet.

I think that if I could meet my internet friends, just for one afternoon, I could then consider them a friend. But until then, it's still just an internet friend.

I do think that it would be cool to meet some of the people I talk to from the internet.

[hydrojakep]

Originally Posted by dunlop

I don't really consider an internet friend my "friend". The fact that I don't really even know what the person looks like makes it tough. I do however know what most of the people look like, but then you still have the problem with never actually meeting them. You don't really get to see how they act in many situations, and a lot of the time, they will probably act a little differently. It's just not the same thing. If someone over the internet is having a problem, you can only do so much. You're limited only interacting throught the internet.

I think that if I could meet my internet friends, just for one afternoon, I could then consider them a friend. But until then, it's still just an internet friend.

I do think that it would be cool to meet some of the people I talk to from the internet.

They're different IRL.

Believe me.

[ducky285]

I don't really have internet friends. I never really saw the point of developing relationships with people over the computer. I rarely talk to people online that I don't know personally.

I mostly use the internet to relieve boredom and keep in touch with my real friends, such as the ones I made in Boston during the two years I lived there before I moved back home.

[dunlop]

Originally Posted by hydrojakep

They're different IRL.

Believe me.

There's really only 3 that I talk to regularly, and would actually like to meet. I'm sure they will be a little different, and I'm sure I'll be a little different as well. I'm expecting that to happen though.

The other people that I don't really talk to that much, I'm sure would be different, but I wouldn't want to meet them anyways.

[ckj846]

Well I tend to value irl friends more then online friends just because I know for a fact who my real life friends are. I know their personalities, their families, habits, lifestyle, and just everything in general. Online friends can keep secrets from you, lie to you about who they really are, and they can totally just change from how they really act irl. I honestly think that people should act the same around all people, including people irl. If you have to put on a different face whenever you walk into a different group of people, you are a following *** and you shouldn't even be alive. Online friends have the privledge of hiding whatever they want to when they want to and online, you can feel free to say anything without really suffereing the consequences that would otherwise apply to you irl. I'll admit, I do cuss a lot more online just because I can, and I know that is a bit hypocritcal but it really does prove my point that you truly aren't yourself 100% when you are talking online. There is this one chick that I met online from maple and we have grown to be really close, but the thing that bugs me is that I dont' know if she is cool like that irl. I guess I'm overthinking a good thing but it just creeps me out sometimes. And this turned into a giant rant again..
O_o

[dAnceguy117]

It's definitely different. When you're friends with someone over the internet, of course the face-to-face interaction isn't there, but there's also no peer pressure, or anything of that nature. Most people don't act that differently on the internet from how they do in real life. I know I talk to people on the internet the same as I do in real life, aside from internet lingo/jokes. Well, that was poorly stated. What I mean is, I treat them the same way.

I can't really say how much I value them. Of course I value both, but I don't sit down and contemplate which is more valuable to me. As I said before, it's very different, and comparing things that are very different in nature is pretty silly.

sup jake we used to be irl friends but now we're iNtErNeT fRiEnDz kawaii

[YungYung]

I could say that I value both internet and real life friends equally, but that'd be lying. Importance wise, I think it's only natural to value friends that you see every day over people on the internet. You spend time with them, get help from them, and you go through different experiences with them.

However I really do like having a group of internet friends that I can talk to on msn afterschool while I do homework. I know it sounds bad when I say this, but it's easier to let out everything that's on your mind to "just some guy on the internet". I mean that in a sense that.. it's not like they're going to make fun of you if you've both taken the time to get to know eachother on the internet. And if they do decide to act like a jackass, then there's always the block button. You can't exactly "block" people in real life out of your lives.

I've gotten to know alot of people off of FFR and some other forums aswell. I've actually met a few in real life and there was absolutely no awkwardness. There's a few people who go to this forum who I'd love to meet in real life. =) Linus being the main one because he's from Hong Kong and tells me about everything that's going on there while I'm stuck in some ****hole in Canada.

[hydrojakep]

Originally Posted by dAnceguy117

It's definitely different. When you're friends with someone over the internet, of course the face-to-face interaction isn't there, but there's also no peer pressure, or anything of that nature. Most people don't act that differently on the internet from how they do in real life. I know I talk to people on the internet the same as I do in real life, aside from internet lingo/jokes. Well, that was poorly stated. What I mean is, I treat them the same way.

I can't really say how much I value them. Of course I value both, but I don't sit down and contemplate which is more valuable to me. As I said before, it's very different, and comparing things that are very different in nature is pretty silly.

sup jake we used to be irl friends but now we're iNtErNeT fRiEnDz kawaii

You're a great example. You're outgoing and funny and stupid on the internet, but you're a little less irl.

Not trying to be mean or anything.

Believe me, i'm always going to remember you for what we did at bens house with the firecrackers over when we played twg.

[jewpinthethird]

Originally Posted by YungYung

I could say that I value both internet and real life friends equally, but that'd be lying. Importance wise, I think it's only natural to value friends that you see every day over people on the internet. You spend time with them, get help from them, and you go through different experiences with them.

However I really do like having a group of internet friends that I can talk to on msn afterschool while I do homework. I know it sounds bad when I say this, but it's easier to let out everything that's on your mind to "just some guy on the internet". I mean that in a sense that.. it's not like they're going to make fun of you if you've both taken the time to get to know eachother on the internet. And if they do decide to act like a jackass, then there's always the block button. You can't exactly "block" people in real life out of your lives.

I've gotten to know alot of people off of FFR and some other forums aswell. I've actually met a few in real life and there was absolutely no awkwardness. There's a few people who go to this forum who I'd love to meet in real life. =) Linus being the main one because he's from Hong Kong and tells me about everything that's going on there while I'm stuck in some ****hole in Canada.

I agree with this whole heartedly. I mean, the people that I do usually talk to online are my friends in real life. I've talked with some people on FFR on AIM, and I've had phone conversations with others, and I've even met a handful of the SoCal FFR members. But I dont feel a super close relationship with anyone on the forums.

No offense, but the internet is just something I use to avoid boredom. FFR has played a major part in my life for a good three years now, but I'm at a point where I need to get out of the house and be around people physically.

[iggymatrixcounter]

I do not see any advantage to having internet friends. I mean yea it would be interesting to meet some of these people, but when it comes down to it, you hang with your REAL friends.

But like it's been said, e-friends have different personalities than RL. You never get to know the person on the other side, you just have to assume everything they tell you is the truth rather than seeing/hearing about it yourself.

I can say I would take RL over internet ANY day.

[tsutter]

Originally Posted by hydrojakep

They're different IRL.

Believe me.

I dunno, I've met a bunch of people I originally talked to online and they didn't seem all that different.

The guy I mentioned in my first post lives in McAllen, TX, and I went to hang out with him a couple times and holy **** he is the EXACT same person IRL that he is online. So I can't really say I've had bad experiences with online people being different in person.

[itmorr]

Originally Posted by Thassodar

What is a Montana?

But seriously I don't have many friends online because I will probably never see or meet them in person. I do have many aquaintances in the FFR chat room though, a few of them I would consider friends. More than half of my friends on my AIM buddy list are people I know in real life.

This is SqNtz_xoombotvx on my new acct. Montana is a great place to live. It's nothing like all the stereotypes or anything like that. There's not as much to do here, as far as places to eat and all that, but I still <3 it (but want to move for the jobs elsewhere!).

[Tps222]

There is obviously a difference, but not as big as peple are saying. I suppose it all depends on who it is you are talking to, and your own beliefs and morals. I've met a lot of internet friends who are a lot cooler than most of the people I know IRL. I've talked to Tass more on AIM than anyone else on my buddylist, and I've actually met him IRL. Although it brief, he was the same person. I really don't see a difference in the people you know. Although, IRL relationships are a bit more rewarding/serious.

[JurseyRider734]

Originally Posted by hydrojakep

They're different IRL.

Believe me.

I'm not. Seriously.

I used to be, but then I suddenly transformed into the person I was online, so now i'm the same both places. As soon as I came to highschool I got a lot more friends. I probably wouldn't have if I never became a regular here.