So I am hoping that this might start a wee bit of discussion but I have been pondering this for awhile now. Can we form real and meaningful friendships from social media outlets like twitter, facebook,and blogging? Now I will be the first to admit that if you had asked me this a few years ago I would have laughed and said not that friendships are the kind where you get together, hang out, spend time together and you can't do that through social media outlets. Well over the past few years my life has changed. I have had children, my close friends have had children, and some have moved away. That has left my circle of people who I get together with and spend time with is now very small (not including the people that I work with). After having my daughter a year and half ago I focused more attention on my blog and the blogging community and over the last six months I have really gotten into twitter. I have met a lot of great people. Perhaps not people that I would refer to as true friends, but dear acquaintances. I have met some who are helping bring me support in my journey to healthiness. People in my real life are either doing their own thing, are too judgemental, or are not interested in living a healthy life style. I needed to seek out support elsewhere and found that online. I also met an amazing group of women who we share a common interest, OK lets be honest obsession, with deadliest catch. From that I have begun to get to know these women and their real lives. It makes me feel like part of a community. This if course is all wonderful....the question I pose is this...is this healthy
I think for me it is. I am a super social person. This is why I love my job I get to work with an amazing group of people and I get to interact with over 100 teenagers every day. Yet now that I am older and have my family responsibilities and so do all my friends, those close friendship although they are still there are just not as readily available as they were when I was 25. So I feel that for me the social media outlet gives me a sense of community and interaction with others. I think it keeps me from feeling isolate. Yet, there is always that piece of me that questions whether these are real friendships....the kind where you truly care about the other person and their life. If i am being honest this is what I don't know the answer too.
Yet, I will say this, one of my favorite activities is in the am before the frenzy of my day starts at work I take a few minutes to check my twitter feed and read a few blog posts. Then at night I check the daily twitter feed and read a few more blog before bed. I feel it is sort of the same as me sending my best friend a text while eating breakfast and again at night while snuggling on the couch with my dog. So what are your thoughts, can our online "Friends" be real Friends?
I know that they can. About 6 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with my son I stumbled upon a website that was for moms and such and found a group of women who were also pregnant and due the same month. There were a lot of us at first, but as the years past we have kept the same 20 or so women in our group. We are all friends on facebook and have created a facebook group for all of us to talk and chat about things. They are my friends and even though we have never met we are all there for each other and hope to some day all get together. :o)
I've been mulling over your question all day. LOL I'd like to think the answer is yes.
I too am a social person and I love learning new things. Twitter is great for that.
There are some people on social sites that are just there for the gossip, others fight like family. LOL Who knows maybe they are. Some people are there for a while and then disappear never to be heard from again.
That being said. I think the majority of people are nice and honestly friendly. I have met people I tell my deep dark secrets too that I think of as "real" friends on these sites.
How awesome is it to have a friend in another country and to learn about their country. I think that's the coolest.
Or having a celebrity talk to you and answer your questions, also very cool.
I know people who have met their friends in real life and others have met their soul mates and married from the internet.
So I guess I have to go with yes, you can meet "real" friends on social sites.
I sure think so...either with new friends or even people you don't get to see very often, like your very cool cousin!