One of the worst arguments against technology I hear is that none of the connections or friendships you make online are real because you don’t have that face to face connection. How dare you tell me my friends aren’t real. Perhaps you need to be face to face with someone to connect, but not everybody else is that way.
I understand that there are predators out there, and it is easy to pretend to be someone you’re not on the internet. You should always exercise caution when interacting with new people, online or not.
What defines a close relationship is more a philosophical question than one that can be quantified in any studies. Is friendship not the mutual feeling of closeness between two or more people?
That’s why the argument, “You aren’t really close with your internet friends, you just think you are” is so dumb to me. Relationships are based on feelings, and the only way a friendship can be fake is if someone’s lying about their feelings.
