Online friendship is Crazy, right? I don't think so! Believe it or not, I've heard a lot of things like that, that I give too much importance to online friendships, people I've never met in person, but to whom I tell everything – personal life, professional life, things I like and dislike. It's even funny that people think that's a bad thing. After all, does a true friendship really need to be face-to-face? To be in the same place, time, and moment? I never thought that, especially since my greatest friendships have always been online, since the days of MSN, Orkut, since the beginnings of social networks.
I've always had difficulty making friends. I was never famous, a star at school, college, or anywhere else. So, what I was left with was investing in online communication, which for me started with MSN, Microsoft's instant messaging service. That was just the starting point of my online life; after that, a lot happened, new things arrived, like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, and many others. For me, it's easier to communicate this way, even though some people think I'm extroverted and a good conversationalist. Well, my natural inclination is to be shy, keep to myself, and not talk much.
I tend to treat friendships with people online with the same intensity as those I know in person. For me, the same affection, dedication, trust—everything—is valid, the only thing we lack is physical contact, being there in the same space in flesh and blood, but for me, that's just a detail. I know it's nice to have many friends, go out with them, have ice cream, or see a movie at the cinema, but since childhood, I've never been good at that, at face-to-face interaction. So, my online friends are super precious to me, and I love meeting more and more people this way.
I don't think one type of friendship should replace another. I believe everyone can be a good friend to us, whether they've been friends throughout your life, from childhood, school, college, courses, church—it doesn't matter where you met them, they are important people to you, just as online friends can be. I've had many that I've watched grow up, following everything through social media, calls, and videos. I witnessed their growth and I thought it was amazing to see all of that, all of their growth. I think perhaps these long-distance friendships prove that, when it's meant to be, nothing can break it.
Of course, I imagine one thing: if it were possible to meet these friends in person, everything would be more fun, and we would further strengthen what already exists. A virtual friendship becoming real, that would be incredible, wouldn't it? I'm sure many people have already done this, finding a virtual friend, but in this case someone from another state or something like that, living in the same country. In my view, this would only further strengthen that friendship; it would be something really cool to happen. If we stop to think about it, many people here at Hive probably only know each other online, so at some point, they meet up and get to know each other.
I believe that friendships can happen in any way; many people even start out as enemies, not liking each other, and then become great friends. Why not have long-distance friends? In the virtual world? So anything is possible; great friendships can exist that way. In conclusion, I think it's good to have both real and virtual friends, so if we can balance that, we can be happy with these friendships. A good friend can be anywhere, so I don't think that's exclusive to friends who are physically close to you.
I can say that currently, my best virtual friendships are with my friends from the HiveBR community!
