Musings on online friendship

[velvetpage]

I was thinking about the phenomenon of which everyone reading this is a part, the idea of having really good friends with whom you converse (sort of) on a near-daily basis, but never (or rarely) actually meet in real life. A few things occurred to me.

First, I have revealed parts of myself online that I have never revealed any other way. There are some things that are still private, of course, but my online friends know more about me (or have the potential to know more about me, if they've been paying attention) than many of my RL friends of longer standing.

I also thought of a better image for a friends list than a list. Lists imply ranking, which is not the case at all. I prefer to see my circle of friends as a Venn diagram. One circle is the people I am friends with in real life; the other is the people I am friends with online. In the middle are the people I know both ways. I value everyone in both circles.

I have to go to a three-year-old's birthday party.

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

I think it's a perception of distance thing. Saying the "wrong thing" online and alienating someone isn't as scary as losing someone who's right there within driving distance. Plus, there's still the idea that this is your journal, and very essentially your own.