The internet and the people on the other end of it
I feel as if Im one of the few people that thinks this way on this subject. Here's a radical thought.
I treat people I meet over the net like they are a real person on the other end of the internet.
Why is that such a hard concept to grip? Ever since my first encounter with making friends over the net, I have treated them just as I would treat someone, socially, if they lived 15 minutes from my house. I beleive that the internet is a great medium to meet people on. Yes, it is not the same as real life, and yes you cant do nearly the same amount of things in such a variety as you can in real life. But who says you have to?
In no way am I saying that I use the internet as a substitute for real life. Nor do I condone such a mentallity. But it's part of real life. It's part of real life for everyone that uses it.
I feel like a fucking idiot because I learnt how to care for people thousands of miles away. Shockingly, I spend alot of my time on the net. And I've met hundreds of people on the net. I spend more time talking to people on the net taht I've met from the net than I do talking to people Ive met off the net on the net. Occasionaly, and many times, frequently, I will get close to certain people I meet on the internet, and we'd develop a good friendship (or so it may seem) and I would consider them friends, and good friends at that, usually. I would not nessecarily classify them as the same kind of friend that I went out to A&W with last wednesday or whatever, but they are to me valid friends and active participants in my life. Personally I grow very attached to these people, because I usually make a stronger mental/emotional bond with them (to my mistake). But I just make friends better online, I feel more comfortable online, and I get attached.
Now you see.. many people dont see it the way I do. Not only people that dont actively engage in internet networking not feel this way, that the person they would talk is a person too, but to my surprise even people that do actively engage in internet networking dont feel this way alot of times. Well, I get worried when people tell me something I should be worried about, I get sad when you tell me something sad, I get happy when you tell me something positive.
But many people seem to think that it's okay, just because you wont see them at school the next day, or they cant come to your house, or they cant call you without long distance charges, that you can just leave these people, hurt them, disrespect them, and just disappear from them, without any reprocussions.
This may be the way it may seem to them in their mind, and it may be the way that certain case works out. But everytime something like that happens, there is someone on the receiving end of it, that is now left alone and confused. And just because they're not there doesn't mean that it makes it alright.
I spend alot of time thinking about "friends" I've lost, and I cant usually get them out of my mind because Ive been so ignorant and so naive that I thought that people could share mutual feelings of friendship over the internet. Its really a horrible feeling, knowing that you were essentially nothing but some sort of artificial social simulator to some one that you might have actually cared about.
But anyways, this is beginning to sound like an unorganised rant. I could go on for days on this. But I guess the point Im trying to drive home is that Im a weak hopeless romantic.
I treat people I meet over the net like they are a real person on the other end of the internet.
Why is that such a hard concept to grip? Ever since my first encounter with making friends over the net, I have treated them just as I would treat someone, socially, if they lived 15 minutes from my house. I beleive that the internet is a great medium to meet people on. Yes, it is not the same as real life, and yes you cant do nearly the same amount of things in such a variety as you can in real life. But who says you have to?
In no way am I saying that I use the internet as a substitute for real life. Nor do I condone such a mentallity. But it's part of real life. It's part of real life for everyone that uses it.
I feel like a fucking idiot because I learnt how to care for people thousands of miles away. Shockingly, I spend alot of my time on the net. And I've met hundreds of people on the net. I spend more time talking to people on the net taht I've met from the net than I do talking to people Ive met off the net on the net. Occasionaly, and many times, frequently, I will get close to certain people I meet on the internet, and we'd develop a good friendship (or so it may seem) and I would consider them friends, and good friends at that, usually. I would not nessecarily classify them as the same kind of friend that I went out to A&W with last wednesday or whatever, but they are to me valid friends and active participants in my life. Personally I grow very attached to these people, because I usually make a stronger mental/emotional bond with them (to my mistake). But I just make friends better online, I feel more comfortable online, and I get attached.
Now you see.. many people dont see it the way I do. Not only people that dont actively engage in internet networking not feel this way, that the person they would talk is a person too, but to my surprise even people that do actively engage in internet networking dont feel this way alot of times. Well, I get worried when people tell me something I should be worried about, I get sad when you tell me something sad, I get happy when you tell me something positive.
But many people seem to think that it's okay, just because you wont see them at school the next day, or they cant come to your house, or they cant call you without long distance charges, that you can just leave these people, hurt them, disrespect them, and just disappear from them, without any reprocussions.
This may be the way it may seem to them in their mind, and it may be the way that certain case works out. But everytime something like that happens, there is someone on the receiving end of it, that is now left alone and confused. And just because they're not there doesn't mean that it makes it alright.
I spend alot of time thinking about "friends" I've lost, and I cant usually get them out of my mind because Ive been so ignorant and so naive that I thought that people could share mutual feelings of friendship over the internet. Its really a horrible feeling, knowing that you were essentially nothing but some sort of artificial social simulator to some one that you might have actually cared about.
But anyways, this is beginning to sound like an unorganised rant. I could go on for days on this. But I guess the point Im trying to drive home is that Im a weak hopeless romantic.