I do not have any friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace because I don’t really communicate with people online very much, I prefer face to face relationships. Cyberspace relationships seem like they would take a lot of time and initiative, I would have to put myself in the right situation to meet someone like a chat room but I don’t participate in anything like that. The most online communication I engage in is through Facebook, which involves talking to people I already know and I have no interest in meeting people online because they could very easily lie about who they are. There are so many stories about people preying on others through the Internet because they can be whoever they want to be and the other person has no way of knowing who they really are – it is just too dangerous. However, when I was a freshmen in high school I stumbled across some kind of San Jose Sharks fan forum or something like that and ended up talking to a girl who was my age and also a huge Sharks fan. I let my guard down with her and we both divulged personal details about our lives, I found out she went to a nearby high school and we had many other things in common. That was about eight years ago and today she is one of my very good friends! I took a risk with her by telling her about my personal life and I got lucky because she was exactly who she said she was.
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Hello CrushedVelvet23,
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of Internet relationships and their downsides was very interesting to read. I think that when the Internet first came out, everyone was more trusting and did not think about the potential dangers of meeting people online. Personally, I think that forming Internet relationships is more dangerous for younger people (middle school – high school) than it is for older people, because younger people tend to be more naïve and trusting; making it easier for criminals and the like to target them. It is true that there is a high risk factor involved when meeting people on the Internet because both parties have to have “blind faith” that everything being said is true.
CrushedVelvet23, I really liked your post. I agree with you on so many levels about the disadvantages of online relationships. Since the internet was released in the 1990s, I was always told to be careful with who tried to contact me online. Just like children are told, never talk to strangers, I felt the same way about entering chat rooms, especially at a young and pre-teen age. Even now, many children are getting themselves in trouble by making relationships with strangers through the internet. Many cases have led to rape and abductions. I have never created a relationship soley through the internet. I use websites like Facebook to keep in contact with friends I don't get to see often, or to keep in contact with new friends such as sorority sisters.
ReplyDeleteCrushedvelvet, after reading over many peoples posts I thought it was interesting that you were one of the few people that was able to have a successful relationship that started out online and then moved to face to face. I also think that it is interesting that you discussed the likelihood of people lying about their true identities. I think that is wasn't as prevalent when i was younger going on kid chatrooms, but I am sure there were a few people posing as children. I think that it is disappointing that we cant trust those on the internet, because if we could I think it would open up a new realm of meeting awesome people.
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