Types of Online Friends

Whether you have never met or you’ve only met once, there are so many different types of online friends. Mary and Sienna go over some of the different types of online friends they’ve encountered and discuss some of the difficulties with categorizing those friendships when they don’t fall under the traditional umbrella of acquaintance or friend.

Real Life Friends Becoming Online Friends

Sometimes the internet is the only option for staying in touch with friends, especially when distance is involved. When Sienna left for university, most of her real life friends became online friends as a result of the distance, but in Mary’s case, she actually found that she got to know some of her sorority sisters better from social media. Mary and Sienna discuss how the internet can be a tool to strengthen your existing acquaintances.

The Differences Between Online Friendships and Offline Friendships

With real-life friends, you’ll often see them in person so the relationship is usually built on proximity and circumstance while online friendships aren’t limited by location. Offline friendships can sometimes require a little more upkeep since it’s a give and take of information. On the other hand, online friendships often exist due to a constant flow of information and can move quickly and feel like a deeper friendship in a shorter amount of time. Mary and Sienna compare and contrast online and offline friendships, making sure to touch on the importance of recognizing the differences between the two.

Research

• A Comparison of Offline and Online Friendship Qualities at Different Stages of Relationship Development by Darius K.-S. Chan, Grand H.-L. Cheng for the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
• Friendship 2.0: Adolescents’ experiences of belonging and self-disclosure online by Katie Davis for the Journal of Adolescence.
• The obstacles against reaching the highest level of Aristotelian friendship online by Robert Sharp for Ethics and Information Technology.

Tune in next week for Episode 10: Friendship Over Time and Space

Do you have a story about friendship? Good, bad, or ugly — we wanna hear it! Click here to learn more about submitting your story and you might just hear it in a future episode or featured on the blog!

Hosted by Mary Akemon and Sienna Mooney
Produced by Alex Papworth
Music by Max Wallace
Episode illustration by Maddy Vian