Community online
At the end of the last post, Ed said he hoped to meet some of us. Of course we still stress the importance of meeting in real life as central to knowing and understanding someone yet I've noticed recently how much the new technology of the internet enables relationships to form in different ways.
One of my most regular friends online on msn messenger is someone I've never met though I have spoken to him on the phone once. I met him through a blog and I'm not sure I really consider meeting him would mean we were properly friends. There are plenty of people I meet every week but I'd suggest that I _know_ some online people better than I know the people I meet in real life. That phrase gices it away somewhat doesn't it... REAL LIFE. For so many of us the internet IS part of our regular daily life. I wouldn't have such a regulat relationship with fellow youth workers or indeed with some of our young people if I didn't have the internet as part of my REAL life.
When will we begin to think of the internet as REAL? When will a conversation on here be no less important than one in real life?
1 Comments:
I think you have a very good point, in fact I think for some the online relationship almost has the opportunity to be more real, I think sometimes people find they can be more open when not in a face to face or even voice to voice situation. Therefore you could argue some of the internet conversations are more real than the ‘real world’ ones. I think therefore I can lead to deeper relationships and greater understanding therefore more real friendships!
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