Other type of connection. Bonding over a hobby instead of life experiences.
Starts form a common interest and sometimes similar personality traits
I would say I have one genuinely online friend, the main thing she provides aside from the things my IRL friends do is a culturally different perspective as a person from another country. (She is in the US and I am in a small European country)
sometimes I can share feelings better when it's written down. In real life I never really talk about my feelings. The aspect of my online friends accepting them, is quite important
They have the same set of hobbies, and they are usually around when I am too.
More likely to have common interests, and interesting info about different areas of the world.
Can be more open with them as the physical distance between us makes it feel more comfortable.
you can open up to them more since they don’t know you irl or your family etc
I feel I can be more honest with them
being able to bitch to them about anything and anyone because they don’t know anyone that i know, reachable all the time, ability to learn about other cultures/languages
I can talk to one of them more confidentially about things I may not say to someone in person
I know I cannot meet them or they are not close by so it's nice to text and not have the pressure of meeting. By this I mean it's hard to know when I will be up to meeting because my long term condition M.E is very unpredictable and changeable so in 20 mins or more I may feel a lot worse than now.
They actually keep in touch more than people I have met especially those I met before talking online.
Many of them have my condition M.E and that is how we found each other so we/they are understanding of slow replies and limits of activity and don't have to explain much. They know how small achievements can be big achievements and we can relate
availability and a different type of connection as we have more in common
I have online friends from all over the world, so I can pretty much guarantee that there’s going to be someone to talk to whenever I’m online
It's the variety of life everyone lives which intrigues me. I like getting to know people more which offline is difficult as I have met the maximum number of people I possibly could.
Connection to an interests group, that my IRL friends aren’t interested in. Specifically, I’m thinking about my “Baylor Twitter” friends and acquaintances who keep me in the loop on Baylor sports.
i don't have any offline friends
I can talk to them mostly at any time because we’re in different time zones. Since I’m introverted in real life, there’s no pressure to have to go out to hang out with them.
You can tell them everything, because they don´t know anyone in your family or any of your ´offline´ friends.
You can always stop talking with them during the day
I can be more honest without expecting repercussions in real life