Hmmm. From reading i have done on happiness (also called ‘subjective well being’) having several good friends is a key to a fulfilling life. Does anyone know if friends who you only know over the internet/email/IM count towards those 5 or does the technology negate the psychological impact?
What about friends you have who you know in person but you mainly communicate via IM or email?
What if you have a friend you know in person but you only communicate via telephone?
On one hand I would assume it wouldn’t (as many romantic long distance relationships don’t work out) but on the other hand people who are friends online usually share a deeper, less superficial bond than people who know each other in person. People say things to people online they’d never tell anyone face to face, maybe that makes the bond stronger.
Well, I would certain challenge the all inclusive ‘having several good friends is a key to a fulfilling life’ thing.
But I can personally attest that making pals online can certainly be enjoyable (leading to happiness?). But it’s better when you occasionnally meet in person.
Ask the MADs around here. Leaving Virginia has made me miss them quite a bit.
Funny, leaving Virginia was a key to my subjective well being.
[rimshot]
In any event, while online friends can’t replace the importance of being around people, they do contribute to overall happiness. I’d go nuts without my online friends to talk things over and joke around with.
It is a key from what i can tell, but its on the only key. Others are purposeful work, good genetics (which probably overshadows everything else), practicing meditation & mindfulness, the ability to look at your past/present/future and think where you are is in line with where you want to be, and things like that.
im trying to dig up a stat but its hard to isolate one. Especially a credible one as many happiness sites are not.
I’m more or less housebound because I’m my parent’s Carer, my social life revolves around the internet, if I wasn’t able to go online and chat to people I’d be up shit creek without a canoe - never mind the fecking paddle
I learned in my college communications class that online support groups are just as effective as face to face support groups. I would think that the idea also extends to online friendships. My only contact with friends right now (who statred as face to face friends) is through email and IM. While I do miss seeing them, I like to feel that we are giving each other (and getting) as much support as if we were there in person.
I personally consider my online friends to be the same as my real life friends, to me there is no difference. I have no extra bond with someone just because I have met them in person. I know this would not hold true for some people, everyone is different.
These days I mostly stay in contact with all my friends via phone, IM or email, I rarely have real life contact. This is because I am a loner by nature and have no real need for face to face contact with people on a regular basis.
I am very happy with my life but whether I would be just as happy without friends is hard to say.
People that I only know online mean just about nothing to me. They might as well be robots. It’s sometimes more meaningful when I talk to a RL friend online.
You guys are all programs, you know that?
“Subjective well being”-- Ha, ha. So ‘happiness’ is too complicated?
And the reason I’d say things online I’d never say to someone’s face is because, again, it doesn’t feel real. It would also be easier to say horribly, scathingly insulting things. (I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a real life situation analogous to online flaming.)
I would say that online friends make a difference in my personal happiness. I married one of them and I consider several others good friends, enough that I’ve driven a few hours to do a few of them some favors.
Some of the great figures of history, especially philosophers, writers, and early scientists, have lead isolated lives with few nearby people who shared their interests, but managed an engaging correspondence with others that lasted decades.
To whit, I am partially housebound. We have a pickup and a car, but since I am out of work and my husband has a very long drive to his job, he uses the car. I avoid any unrequired driving as the pickup doesnt get very good milage. I also have suffered a badly broken back in my misspent youth skiing, so I prefer to only go places that I know I can sit down frequently, and not have to do long walks or lifting things.
I play everquest, and have made several very good friends through it, one in particular that I visited for 3 weeks in feb in Germany, and we talk every day on MSN camera chat, and he calls me on the phone a few times a week. I have other everquest friends that I have frequent phone and msn chats with, in addition to the time we spend together in game. I am in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and many of my friends through that group I see physically once a year and otherwise keep in touch with through email, msn chats and phone calls. I don’t really have a lot of friends nearby being recently ex-military [DH retired in september after 20 years] and all the moving around we have done makes our long term SCA and online friends the most dependable contacts.
I think the internet has made more readily available peer to peer contact that otherwise just wold not normally exist. I have dang little in common with my neighbors that just having communication with the close minded little country folk in my lonely stretch of road make leatherface’s family in texas look downright familiar. If I couldnt have a decent conversation on something other than football, the latest episode of friends or the price of hog feed I would go insane.
Yes, they count as fully as in person friends. I remember back when KellyM and I were just friends. I we were online together everyday, and everyday I was nagging her to take care of herself, listening to her, talking to her. I remember lighting up when she came online. We fell in love during our third real life visit. That would not have benn possible had we not already ared about each other.
The bad thing is: When online friends turn out to be super bitches when you meet them in real life.
I’ve met about 11 online friends. [none Dopers] One is an absolutely scary woman. A liar with a tendency to hurt people and dumb to boot. Another, a male leech, only interested in freebies. I’d never would have thought that, after reading their posts.
But the other 9 are just fine and I consider them friends.
I just have to be more careful who[m] to invite over to my house.