In my first year of college, I was scared. I was in a new place three hours from my home with no way to get back that didn’t involve two busses and a train. I had only a few friends and even the people I had from high school (with a few exceptions) seemed detached as well. It was pretty scary. I fell hard back into the things that made me happy, and Tumblr was a big one of them. I found my identity through my blog and the things I love. And through that, I made friends.
I’m not ashamed to say that I have made friends over the web. We all had our times in the 90’s when your mom told you not to meet people over the Internet. Gone are the days where the location where you live, grow up, work and play defines who you’re friends with. I’ve got friends in all different time zones, all connected by one thing or another. One friend watches the same people on YouTube as me, one appreciates the fanatic value that I love Fall Out Boy to.
I won’t sugar coat it either, It’s tough, having friends online sometimes. From basic things like occupying time by hanging out, that time can be filled with Skype calls. When your parents get concerned about how you don’t go out with anyone from school because you’re holed up using all the bandwidth to go on Tumblr. That is the example of people finding Internet friends weird.
I know too many people that get their phones or computers taken away and are deemed “Anti-social” because of how much time they spend on the Internet. I’m thankful, to a degree that, in this day and age, it’s somewhat socially acceptable to be on my phone. Whenever I feel alone or in a social situation I’m uncomfortable with, in the palm of my hand, I have people I can talk to in all different time zones. Adults don’t understand this sometimes, but as our generation moves to the forefront, I think that having friends online should be an acceptable and social norm. If an adult is willing to use an online dating site, they should be willing to somewhat understand the concept of having a friend online.
I may not meet my Internet friends in my entire life, but we have a connection as if we’ve lived next door to each other our whole lives. I know people who have met and fallen in love, some have even gotten married, just because of these connections they’ve formed online. Even non-romantic connections grow stronger when they decide to meet.
People are so easy to write off the fact that they’re not real relationships, as if you can’t know a person unless you’ve met the actual person behind the screen. Friendships are interpersonal relationships, you wouldn’t tell someone with a long distance pen pal that their friendship isn’t real. I’m confident that the friendships I’ve made online will last for life, because if I’ve learned anything, it’s that we don’t have to meet to be best friends.
