I’ve been thinking a lot online presence these days. Especially in a culture where people are consistently online more than they are actually out and about and meeting other people face to face. I suppose, in essence, I’ve been wondering how much emphasis I should place on maintaining relationships with other people through the internet. On one hand, it is very easy to communicate (Facebook, Gchat, etc) and it has also begun to have more emotional value as it is becoming more and more accepted as a form of thoughtful communication. On the other hand, the amount of connections one CAN make seems to be overwhelming, and it still doesn’t really have the same weight as talking with someone one on one.
I suppose what I’m coming to the conclusion of is this: long distance friendships can be maintained through the web. Closer relationships should be fostered by the web, but only as a supplement to real human interaction. I think it would start to become a very sad reality if we all just talked to each other through the internet even though we may be sitting across from each other (BTW, this has happened already and though it was funny, I hope it doesn’t become a regular thing).
For me personally, I never really liked talking on Facebook and commenting on blogs and things of that nature. But I think that it actually warrants more of my time simply because it shows other people that I do really care. I think it’s just that I used to think that being online too much had a very negative connotation (I suppose it still does to some degree) and would just use Facebook/Twitter/Blogs as a form of information gathering. But I think the web has evolved to have more of a personal feel to it over these past 5 – 10 years or so. Perhaps I should rethink how I use these forms of social media.
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