All there is To Know about Online Friendships

The more people you meet, the more you learn. In reality though, the number of people you do meet are quite limited. The people you actually interact with on a daily basis being much more limited. Now this is where building a profile and making relationships online come in handy.

There is simply no limit to the number of people you could interact with but let’s not get carried away with that. As any controversial topic raises two sides to it so does making friends or dating people virtually. Here’s all you need to educate yourself on it.

The Benefits

Making friends can’t get as easy as having your own device and internet connectivity, especially for introverts. Being a shy person back in the day, I (and psychologists backed up with research) can guarantee the fact that making friends online help boost confidence levels and communication skills immensely.

The satisfaction of having more social support benefits one’s mental health too. Having friends beyond borders is also made easier and opens a window of much more benefits (which we will get into detail in another article). You could also have those midnight convos that hit different, thanks to the different time zones international relationships pose. Simply there’s two options to choose from: spending more time, money and effort in trying to make a friend in reality. Or easily find someone with common interests online, build a relationship there and choose to proceed even IRL.

Let’s say you don’t meet up in person. There’s still the benefit of having those extremely honest (or even embarrassing) discussions with them that you’d rather or never have face-to-face with anyone. After-all most people online are less judgmental and in the case of not meeting them up you’d have nothing to lose.

The Drawbacks

What concerns most people is the inevitable miscommunication. Texting does not convey the tone a sender implies their message. Emojis don’t solve the issue for sure. But hey, we have voice messages and video calls for that so problem solved. And yes, you might be able to control the info you chose to share with specific people, and completely restrict access to possible weirdos by simply hitting block. But still, are the people behind the screen really who they claim to be? If you aren’t careful the possibility of being cat-fished, ghosted, cyberbullied and have your trust broken is quite considerable.

Having the perfect online experience comes down to trust. The worst case scenario that could happen is you being let down, but that’s the bitter process of having good relationships. You can’t get it right away and right always. When you do though, it’s the greatest feeling on planet earth. The worst case scenario still helps you improve your character in ways unimaginable. If you do fear failed relationships, which are even possible offline, know that they are never a lost cause. If you have experienced one you will know the positive impact they pose on your mentality. All in all making friends online is an experience that you do not want to miss on. Check out more of our blogs on meeting new people in the virtual world!