I made my first friend through the internet in 2013 via a series of linked Instagram and Ask.fm accounts that ultimately led me to the popular messaging app, Kik. She was in eighth grade at the time, I was a freshman.

My parents had warned me about this, as most people's parents do. We've all heard stories of catfishing, scamming, and even violence. But this was different. With the advent of independent messaging apps such as Kik, that didn't require you to give out personal information, I felt like I had a safer and more controlled environment in which to talk to people. As it turns out, the internet doesn't have to be a dangerous place.

Nowadays, internet friends are a common occurrence. With the increased presence of social media in our lives, and the new measures implemented to connect us to as many people as possible, it's a lot easier to meet someone from a different timezone and build a lasting friendship.

I went through high school with many of my closest friends being those I had never met before. At first, I was almost embarrassed. What kind of teen is so bad at socialization that he can only make friends outside of real life? When I did open up about my new friends, I was often met with criticism. People would say things like "are you sure this isn't a catfish?" and "how can you be friends if you've never met?"

I came to ignore them. I was proud of having reached across distance and time zone, building lasting long-distance friendships that defied the stigma surrounding them and having never met a single one of them.

Having an internet friend was actually a really incredible thing. The only thing that set them apart from the people I knew in real life was the solely the fact that I didn't know them in real life. We still had milestones (moving from Kik to actual texts, video calling, etc. (I still remember hearing people's voices for the first time.)) and there was still a certain air of mystery about them.

I met a girl from Georgia in 2013. It's been four years since that day. She's now a senior in high school, I'm a freshman in college. I still look forward to the day I get to meet her.

Alberta, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Pennsylvania, Scotland.

To all the friends I haven't met,

To the people I've come across in the sketchiest of ways,

To the people my parents have warned me about,

To the people who have watched me grow up from across the world,

To the people who have lost touch, and to the people who have remained with me,

Thank you.