I watched a Youtube video (Vlog) the other day in which the vlogger stated they were so happy to have their best friend’s support. The best friend in question was someone he’d never meet (IRL) living on the other side of the world.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve met a lot of people thanks to the internet, some of whom I’m friends with i.e we e-mail, talk on the phone, send one another birthday and Christmas card etc. But some of these friends I’ve NEVER MEET in real life. (Real life, where you have, physically shared, personal space!) Some of the friends I’ve made online I’ve meet in real life, and thus they fall into the category of friends I meet via the net. (I’m not into putting my personal relationships with people into categories! I’m simply making a point of categories for this blog!)
Anyway… Out of the friends I’ve made online I’ve have varying relationships with. Some I’ve shared flats with, others I’ve slept with, some I just talk on the phone occasionally, others it’s only contact via the net through e-mail, and msn etc. The point I’m getting to is that I wouldn’t call any of them my best friend.
Best friend, is well something you find in a playground with children who put their friendships into different levels and award those ‘better’ than others the tag / label of ‘best friend’. Of all my friends I have I don’t have a ‘best’ one. They are all equal to me, they all represent something unique, thus the reason I’m friends with them, but none are ‘better’ than the other, and therefore I do not have a ‘best friend(s)’ I just have a group of close friends, and those who ‘know’ my name. (Does that make sense).
So back to the original topic I started out on. How can someone be a ‘best friend’ if you’ve never actually met them? When you have a RL friend, it different to the relationship you have with those you’ve never met. It’s those little things that you get from personal space contact that make your friendships in real life differ to those on line, the way someone looks at you when they talk can’t be replaced by a smiley in an e-mail. Nor can that sense of reality you get from someone when you see them, read their body language etc, be replicated online.
Which brings me to the following explanation. I meet a girl online years ago now, we chatted online, swapped e-mails, spoke on the phone etc and I ‘really’ liked her, but when I finally got to ‘meet’ her in real life, she wasn’t what I’d built up in my mind – (I did know what she looked like – this is not some vanity thing!) Her mannerism, the way she spoke when she was off guard, her blatant view on certain topics (You know the kind their opinion and thought are the ONLY correct one) It's these things that you can’t pick up over the phone, or the net. It’s that in the flesh connection, which makes me well scoff at these people who try and tell me their ‘best friend’ is someone who lives in another country and they have never met them, but they are like their bestest friend ever!
Some could look at this as ‘oh but he’s young’ Fuck that excuse! Everyone is ‘young’ at some stage in their lives, it’s the experiences we go through that make us the people / adults we are today. This oh but S/he is young is wearing a little thin as an excuse for ignorance. Step outside your front door, experience the world and base friendship and trust on MORE than a pleasantly rehearsed e-mail or a very controlled phone conversation!
I like all the people I’m friends with (That’s kind of an obvious statement as I’d not be friends with people I don’t like, but I’m sure you know what I mean!) I like and enjoy the ‘exchange of communication’ I have with online friends who I may or may not have met, and those who have to put up with my ugly mug in real life those pre internet friends.
Break out the ‘what you see is what you get friend’ That’s what the world needs more of.
That’s all I’ve got.
Showing posts with label Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Post # 20 - The Internet
One of the blogs I read last week. Sorry I can't remember which one - there's a huge list of them on the BEDA blog site - the link to that site is in my other interesting blogs section on the right Anyway that blog asked what life would be like without the internet.
I'll be showing my age well and truly then in this post - as I come from a time before the internet *Gasp* I know shocking isn't it... So I can honestly state that I know what it's like to have a life without the internet. It was a lot slower and you made a lot more use out of books like encyclopaedias to look information up. I know the concept of opening a book for information really blows some peoples minds. In fact I can remember a time before personal computers (Ohhh really showing my age now!) My parents got a PC when my brother was in his final year of high school many years ago. It was top of the range with 4Mb of RAM... I know what you're thinking WOW 4MB of RAM!! - I mean with 4MB of RAM it was lightning fast... They upgraded it to 8Mb of RAM 18 months later and my god it just went at warp speed!! Alright I'll step down from my sarcasm filled soapbox!
Life before the internet was more personal I guess. You had pen pals you physically wrote a letter too, then waited patiently for the next two weeks waiting for them to reply to your letter. You spoke to people on the phone more, and you actually hung out with people. You had no other choice but to go to the Cinema to watch the new release movie as there was no such thing as 'steaming media'
If the internet suddenly went 'off-line' tomorrow - well I'd not get to finish BEDA which would be a bit shit! However I'd also loose that freedom to literally have access to anything I wanted within reason at the end of my fingertips. From e-mailing friends (The new age pen pal which has a quicker turnaround than two weeks), Access to 24hr news. However the biggest infrastructure of the internet is online shopping. The amount of things I buy online today is unbelievable, because it's not only more convenient with online stores such as Amazon, Fish-pond, JBHiFi, Ezydvd etc which have so much more range than a 'store front' shop can provide. Obviously because a warehouse can hold much more, it has less overhead costs etc (Insert long list here) I can do all this shopping from the comfort of my own home, have it delivered to my door like pizza and not have to deal with people who out of no fault of their own will undoubtedly piss me off somehow. (This is why I dislike grocery shopping soooo much!)
Will we get to a point in the future where everything is online, distributed from warehouses somewhere in some country? Yes I honesty believe that the days of 'retail assistants' in the flesh so to speak will become obsolete in the future. Sure there will always be some form of 'human interaction' required re processing orders, being on the end of a phone line for customer assistance etc. But eventually retail will be taken over by computer programs which will automate things more than they already do now. Will I see this in my lifetime? Probably not, however I think my nephews grandchildren probably will.
That's all I've got
I'll be showing my age well and truly then in this post - as I come from a time before the internet *Gasp* I know shocking isn't it... So I can honestly state that I know what it's like to have a life without the internet. It was a lot slower and you made a lot more use out of books like encyclopaedias to look information up. I know the concept of opening a book for information really blows some peoples minds. In fact I can remember a time before personal computers (Ohhh really showing my age now!) My parents got a PC when my brother was in his final year of high school many years ago. It was top of the range with 4Mb of RAM... I know what you're thinking WOW 4MB of RAM!! - I mean with 4MB of RAM it was lightning fast... They upgraded it to 8Mb of RAM 18 months later and my god it just went at warp speed!! Alright I'll step down from my sarcasm filled soapbox!
Life before the internet was more personal I guess. You had pen pals you physically wrote a letter too, then waited patiently for the next two weeks waiting for them to reply to your letter. You spoke to people on the phone more, and you actually hung out with people. You had no other choice but to go to the Cinema to watch the new release movie as there was no such thing as 'steaming media'
If the internet suddenly went 'off-line' tomorrow - well I'd not get to finish BEDA which would be a bit shit! However I'd also loose that freedom to literally have access to anything I wanted within reason at the end of my fingertips. From e-mailing friends (The new age pen pal which has a quicker turnaround than two weeks), Access to 24hr news. However the biggest infrastructure of the internet is online shopping. The amount of things I buy online today is unbelievable, because it's not only more convenient with online stores such as Amazon, Fish-pond, JBHiFi, Ezydvd etc which have so much more range than a 'store front' shop can provide. Obviously because a warehouse can hold much more, it has less overhead costs etc (Insert long list here) I can do all this shopping from the comfort of my own home, have it delivered to my door like pizza and not have to deal with people who out of no fault of their own will undoubtedly piss me off somehow. (This is why I dislike grocery shopping soooo much!)
Will we get to a point in the future where everything is online, distributed from warehouses somewhere in some country? Yes I honesty believe that the days of 'retail assistants' in the flesh so to speak will become obsolete in the future. Sure there will always be some form of 'human interaction' required re processing orders, being on the end of a phone line for customer assistance etc. But eventually retail will be taken over by computer programs which will automate things more than they already do now. Will I see this in my lifetime? Probably not, however I think my nephews grandchildren probably will.
That's all I've got
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