online friends vs real life friends

[velvet]

which do you prefer, personality-wise? (i.e don't say rl friends because you can see them)

i kinda have a habit of making my online friends my rl ones, we have way more in common and they're just nicer people. my rl friends aren't really similar to me in any way and i've ended up distancing myself from most of them because they're pure idiots.

[beth]

my friends irl are very much friends i have FUN with, they don't really know much about me. we just have a laugh together and chill together. my online friends know much more about me, i'm far more open and i like that. they're usually on my intelligence level or above (i'm not saying i'm super clever, just my irl friends aren't very ha) and i can have actual discussions.

[wixard]

ummm if you asked me this several months ago i would have said online, but now i rarely speak to anybody online
people online know more personal things about me, but these days i much prefer speaking to rl friends
it's sad i had some really good online friends who i thought i'd never stop speaking to but unfortunately i have. :(

so yeah, as much as i may complain about them/get pissed at them rl friends all the way

[RyRy]

friends i have irl i have much more fun with and in terms of things we can relate to that we've done, there's more as there normally would be.

friends i have online, i have more of a laugh with than anything and i do have fun with em as well, but it's not in the same kind of fun.

then for me, theres people ive met online and went into irl and now look at them as online/irl friends, and them i kinda get along with more than anything, cuz we have things in common offline, but also online as well and i can just be more myself in that i can talk about things that affect me irl as well wtihout them directly my irl life with my irl friends. ya dig.

[dirrty]

will forever be real friends because i actually interact with them. if i saw some online friends regularly, then i'd probably shift them into the 'real friends' category. but because that hasn't happened, online friends will probably remain within that context. plus, what makes friendships stronger is experiencing things with one another - and that's more difficult to achieve with someone who you only communicate with online.

[Neversoft]

I met one of my best friends online. In fact, they're one of my oldest friends. I've known them longer than I have any of my real-life friends who are still around. I feel extremely close to them, and I wouldn't want to go on without them. But I think when you get as close as we did, something bursts, and you can't just stay confined to the internet anymore. We met, and we exchanged numbers, and essentially I would consider them a real-life friend now. In the long run, there's just too many limitations online. You can't truly know someone if they're just words on a screen. I open up a lot more online than I do in real-life, but despite that, I still feel those who have actually been around me know me better. They might not know my innermost thoughts, but they know me as a person. They know my personality, and what I'm like. However much you talk to someone online, you can never truly grasp their being. How you are online is essentially a projection. It's bits and pieces, it isn't the whole thing. There's a whole new dynamic when you're physcially around someone, and just so many more levels on which you can connect, relate and engage. And I feel the bond is so much more stronger in someone you know in real life and can open up to an confide in, than it is with someone you can open up to and confide in, but know strictly online. Physical connection is so important in life.

Nevertheless, I can't really give an answer. My head says real-life friends, but I met one of my best friends online and I can't overlook that. But I have no preference. To me a friend is a friend, and I don't see why it has to be one or the other all the time.

[Catchy]

Well, I only have a few friends in real life that I'd consider proper friends and who I can tell anything to and feel 100% comfortable with, in fact... I probably just have one who's my best friend we're unbelievably close and I love it.

Saying that, I've met some amazing people online, people who've cheered me up and made me laugh whenever I needed it. I would consider a few of my online friends my best friends just because you haven't met somebody doesn't make them any less important to you.

[GirlNextDoor15]

I used to be very close to my real life friends but not anymore since we are not studying together etc. I really hope things will get better but it's getting worse apparently and we rarely meet each other. So, I'd say online friends. I spend a lot of time online and I dunno if they know me well but that's how it is, I guess.

[geo]

I'd probably say online friends, I can really be true to myself and I don't have to hide anything with a smile with them. I don't have a friend in real life that I can talk to about my own feelings so I just act like everything is okay when it's really not. I love how I can be open with people online HOWEVER it sucks because I don't know them irl. :( I'd love to know some of the people I've met online in real life, would be perfectttt.

[wiktoria]

I have one friend in real life who is my best friends and we've been best friends for like 5 or 6 years now. i love her loads and would choose her over my online friends but i feel we're drifting apart and don't really speak as much as we used to. the rest of my friends are just mates and i don't really like them that much lol ngl. i love my online friends because i can say anything and they wouldn't judge me, we share the same interests and i'm closer to them than my mates irl. i've met some really amazing people online and i do like them better than my mates irl. i can just get along with them better and have a laugh, most of my rl mates are annoying *******.

[Inseriousity.]

Firstly eww that sig is gross dirrty. What happened to the ones with pretty girls in them ;P

Personality-wise I'd say online friends are better because I think they're more open to joking around. My rl friends are very serious all the time so it's hard to chill out around them. My own fault really for sitting next to the mature students although, in that context of uni, I don't mind it too much.

[buttons]

i dunno.

majority of my friends irl are people i'd only say hi to in the street or in town, maybe have a convo with them on facebook. i don't open up to a lot of people in real life, it would take me some quite time to be comfortable with them. in saying that, i am extremely honest about almost anything but i say it more in a jokey way (which i don't actually mind). i really don't fit in with a lot of people irl and it's hard to make friends, the only time i fit in with anyone is when i'm drunk or in college because we all want to do the same thing. i find it so much easier to talk to people online because they don't have to see me, irl i'm more anxious n bleh. i would rather be the person i am on here than irl though sometimes.


online i'd say i prefer because there's such a wide variety of people out there who i have more interests with. + i've known people on here longer than i've been friends with most people i know irl. i rarely stick to the same group of people for one time irl, though i do have some childhood friends that i still talk to. i end up drifting away from my 'best friend'.


however, my current best friend is someone i knew back in school. we were never that close but hung about in the same group. she left with no qualifications, became a bum and a drug addict. she has completely changed her life around and i'm extremely open and honest with her. she knows absolutely everything about me and is very understanding which surprised me because she never seemed a 'deep' person. she has more common sense than me and can look after herself better than i can and has also dealt with her past, which is worse than mine, better than i have. it really is a case of "dont judge a book by its cover/past (hi tom)". although our interests and lives are completely different, it works. no-one i've met on the internet could ever replace her, no matter how more 'intelligent', 'nicer' or 'prettier' they are compared to her.


she doesn't seem like the time of person i'd go to talk to if i met them online. not someone i'd give the chance to anyway. i was just saying the other day, you don't know if you'd get along with the people you meet on the internet in real life. i actually think some of the people i talk to on here and those of similar interests etc are people i'd feel more self conscious around and not good enough for? i know that when i talk to people irl then they add me on facebook, they think i'm a completely different person. or if you talk to me on here then skype me or meet me irl i'm probably not what you'd expect. you can't really tell how a person will be, there's not a voice or body language or you don't even know how they smell (smell can be quite a huge factor in whether i like someone more or not (A)) etc. people online can be better or worse irl but from what i've seen on skype, almost everyone goes up in my estimations because even though it's only a voice, it's more real. i've disliked people i've met on here for stupid reasons then you talk to them on skype and get on better with them. that's my view.

wow....sry i ramble. i do that irl too so

[Plucked]

Both have their ups and downs...

I've had several "online friends" who i've since met up with in person, so now we're rl friends i guess. I trust my rl friends a hell of a lot more than I would trust anybody online, purely because I have major trust issues anyway - kudos to the idiots online who showed me why i should never trust people online.

[Charlie]

I don't really see my RL friends much nowadays, I only really see them when I'm out drinking so they're only really good as drinking buddies and the people who I work with but I don't really see them out of work, just in work and even then, I don't talk to them much. I don't have many online friends either but I'm probably more open and honest with them than I am RL friends.

[hiyahon]

REAL LIFE

i say this because i've had the same group of friends since reception, basically my whole life.

[Seikou]

probably online tbh, they understand me more and we're more similar and get on a lot better

[Paige.]

personality-wise i'd say online friends because i've noticed that people online are much more open and are easier to talk to and let themselves be who they really are. people may say that this is only because they're behind a computer screen. so what? they're still real people with real feelings. although, i do have a close friendship group and there are two people out of it for definite that i would chose over online friends but i love them all so it's kind of a hard decision. i guess it takes longer for people to show their true colours and personality irl whereas online i think people aren't as reluctant.

[Cerys]

For me, I think online friends are more open and share loads of stuff with me, but with irl friends I can find out what we have in common more easier.

Tbh I think my online/irl friend is the best. Me and him talk all the time on habbo, and when we meet we have such a good laugh.

[Vause]

My rl friends are okay but they all have this little group that we hang out in, but they're all in couples so it can be awkward. They don't listen to me as good as my online friends. Plus i've met someone amazing people online who i've met up with and have stayed very close too since like 2004 :)

[Lee]

It's easier to talk to Online friends without awkwardness etc but Real Life friends share some of the best experiences of your life and that can't be replaced with a computer IMO.

[Metric1]

IRL M8's for sure.

[=Lizzy]

i love my rl friends they are lovely, also i get to see them regularly.
i prefer them
HOWEVER, ive met some really lovely people online and will probably class them as rl friends in the future maybe

[Showder]

Proper friends, because they normally comfort you, and in online life, its rare to find such good friends ( excluding Habbox staff members, they're awesome xoxoxo)

[Eric]

real life mates!