Welcome to Thoughtful Thursday!
This week I would like to discuss friendship, especially Internet friendship. Do you believe it's possible to befriend anybody without seeing him/her in real world, at least from time to time?
Do Internet friends are important to you - as important as real life friends? Do you often make friends on the Internet? What do you think of so-called social network sites - do they, in your opinion, help meeting true friends or not?
Here are some quotes I've chosen as food for thoughts:
"Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends."
- Jacques Delille (1738 - 1813) French poet.
- Jacques Delille (1738 - 1813) French poet.
"Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache: do be my enemy for friendship's sake."
- William Blake
- William Blake
"One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives."
- Euripides, Greek playwrite
- Euripides, Greek playwrite
"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."
- Charles Caleb Colton
- Charles Caleb Colton
"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
- Anais Nin
- Anais Nin
"My friends are my estate."
- Emily Dickinson
- Emily Dickinson
"A friend is one who walks in when others walk out"
-Walter Winchell
-Walter Winchell
"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."
- Len Wein
- Len Wein
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I do think so :) I mean I do have a pen-pal, not the same thing, but she sure feels like a real friend after 15 years. And I would certainly miss my blogging buddies if I stopped
ReplyDeleteSure you can!!!
ReplyDeleteOh I updated my personal blog!
Sometimes I think so myself - it's enough you are a positive but careful person and you can find plenty of fantastic people on the Internet, psychos, wackos and criminals are in the minority...and sometimes I am not so sure.
ReplyDeleteOh I updated my personal blog!
I am heading there right now!
I have a few internet friends. Some I've know for a few years. I've only met one in person.
ReplyDeleteBtw... you know I'm one of the wackos... right? ;) I'm a harmless wacko, but wacko nonetheless... :D
I've defintely made the acquaintance of some people online that I've been very grateful to have around. Though--I don't know that internet friends could ever replace real-life friends for me. I love the quotes, by the way--I really do believe that we make our family out of our friends much of the time.
ReplyDeleteMelissa I am a harmless wacko myself so I suppose we can get along with each other just fine.
ReplyDeleteI've met some incredibly brilliant, clever, nice people on the Internet but I also have been burnt. Friends are important to me but true friends are difficult to find so I also agree with you, Rowenna - I am not sure online friends would be enough to keep me sane (more or less).
I like Euripedes.
ReplyDeleteI think what I value most about my internet friends is that there are few people who read the sort of stuff I do and whom I can talk with about the things I really enjoy. We are few and scattered but the internet has brought us together. I feel a lot less alone. :-)
I love this post!! I definitely think you can make internet friends and I've made some of my own. It all started with goodreads.com. I became a part of one of the groups and then from there became really good friends with the mod of the group. That was about a year ago and we are still super close. She and I are like twins from different mothers and although I've never met her, she is one of my better friends. This may sound odd to people, but she totally gets me and we share the same eccentricities. We talk on the phone and text and email and it's nice to have her there. Of course I still have my 5 sisters and the other people here in my life, but I'd say she is one of my really good friends. Needless to say this hasn't really happened to me before, but I'm glad I met her.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm one of those harmless nuts too. I figure it makes me unique. I'm loud and say what I think. It works for me. Life, to say the least, is never boring. *wink wink*
Jen
In the Closet With a Bibliophile
I'm quite happy to meet up with internet friends if I've known them for quite a long time (indeed, I have met up with a few of them) some of these friends I've known for years and know them as well as some of my 'real life' friends. They are certainly as important as real life friends.
ReplyDeleteBut you do have to be wary - there are plenty of weirdos out there - stalkers, criminals, paedophiles to name a few. The problem with the internet is anyone can pretend to be someone else, from adopting a different persona to men pretending to be women (or children in the case of paedophiles).
I think I missed a lot not joining goodreads.com. - good to know it worked for you so well Jen! Finding such a friend as yours is priceless.
ReplyDeleteTracy I am rather a cautious person IRL (most of the time anyway) but using the Internet I do try to be double so. Still there were some hits and misses.
The Red Witch your blog rocks and I am happy every time I visit it! *hug*
@The Red Witch your blog rocks and I am happy every time I visit it! *hug*
ReplyDeleteThank you. I enjoy reading yours too.
:D
ReplyDelete