I have so much love for my internet friends *quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by eric3579.

Please don't hurt me Lann!

She has a ton of valid points about what's not wrong with having internet friends so why is she so self conscious about the topic. Or to put it more succinctly, she should get over it.

Another interesting thought is that we're compartmentalizing ourselves more and more. We go to one site to seek out A and another for B, and another for... Are we getting away from being able to have 'general' friends that we can shoot the bull about any topic?

I'm not clear what you mean by compartmentalizing & general friends bit exactly but..

Yes, human tend to gravitate towards distinct groups.
The terms coined would be In-groups or Out-groups.

In terms of society, people who socialize in non-normative ways are stigmatized as part of an Out-group. Any fringe culture.

e.g. - Those weirdo who can only make friends online.


However, for all us interweb nerds. Befriending stranger online IS the norm.

So we become the In-group, and those cocky extroverted socialite types are the Out-group.

This is effectively what's happening when you try to merge two circles of friends and they awkward reject one another.


So more or less.. no, "general" wholly inclusive friendships or In-group are not a thing.

You would all need one common thread.
Somewhere those threads would begin to divert too much and that circle would close ranks.

Hence, why Utopia is impossible.

Cool idea tho.

I couldn't even watch this, is there some Apple software now that automatically edits out any pauses from vlogs and plays the same fluffy kitten music in the background? This is getting old.

Internet helped me to socialize since I can't talk and hear well. I have more friends and foes online than in person!

When I've had the opportunity to meet internet friends in person they have always been more or less exactly the person I knew from online. It's a odd an experience where at first you feel like strangers with eerie knowledge of each other...and then 30 secs later your totally over it and it couldn't feel more normal. Then you all go back home and even though you're still "internet" friends you miss for maybe the first time. tl;dr - don't meet your internet friends because it turns them into long distance real life friends, and that fucking sucks.

Same thing in reversed. I know people physically, but online they're different!