Whenever I mention "my friend from England," or "my friend from Washington," or "my friend from Illinois," and people ask how I met them, sometimes I get some strange looks when I say I met them online. The number-1 question I get is "How do you know they're who they say they are?" The next one is usually, "How can they really be your friends if they live so far away?"

I get it. I do. I was taught from a pretty young age that talking to people I didn't know via the Internet was unsafe, and there's no denying that being too cavalier with your personal information can invite some serious dangers into your life. That being said, meeting people over the Internet is becoming more commonplace. Just as an example, it's not unusual for people to use dating sites to meet their future spouses. Even still, there's still this stigma that people who make friends in the same way are lonely or incapable of socialising with people in real life. I'm not about to say that I'm great at being social (because that just isn't true), but the friends I've made face-to-face exist, I swear.

I connected with my friends because we shared common interests like music, movies, TV shows... memes... and a willingness to meet new people and talk about our likes and dislikes. Because we like the same things, everything we have to say to each other is engaging, and it's great. The only way the distance changes the way we interact with one another is that we don't run out of things to talk about. With friends you see on a regular basis, it's easy to share everything with each other and even easier to run out of things to say. When you can only catch up with your Internet friends for a few hours a day at most, chances are you have a lot to share when you do get to talk. Even if you don't, there's something really special about seeing a picture or video they sent you with the caption 'this made me think of you.'

I appreciate having these people in my life, even if they aren't here physically. I also think it's incredible that making the simple decision to send a nice message to people who used to be complete strangers could lead to such great friendships, even if I've never met most of them in person. I'm so thankful to know my Internet friends--they make me laugh daily and I've learned so much from them. I'd do anything I could to help them, and I know that whenever need them, they'll be there for me (time zones permitting).