Hard disagree. Online friends are easy to ditch. Real life friends are around wether you like it or not. That fact alone has huge repercussions.
Hard disagree. Online friends are easy to ditch. Real life friends are around wether you like it or not. That fact alone has huge repercussions.
Presumably that depends on the context in which your 'real life' friends see you
Real-life friends are ditching each other commonly these days, because the Block function on Whatsapp (or whatever app they use to communicate) seems so convenient and consequence-free.
Maybe I'm old school, but if you can erase someone from your life because you block them on an app, this probably was not 'real-life'?
This doesn't match my experience with friendship at all. Almost all of my friends it takes at least some positive effort to continue our relationship. I at least have to respond to messages or answer phone calls. People end real-life friendships all the time.
In 2026, the way that friends who don't see each other at work/school arrange to meet and maintain that friendship, is via WhatsApp or the local equivalent.
The only situations you can't stop seeing someone you don't like IRL are:
1) School 2) Work 3) Very small town
If you live in a major metro area, it's pretty easy to not see people, especially if you're actively wanting to avoid them.
4. Having kids together.
5. Having mutual friends.
6. Having common interests (playing in sports leagues, charity/volunteer work, active in local politics)
Exactly and many friendships are formed from sharing common spaces in the first place. Both online and offline - with the difference being that the online spaces have a one-click ban/block function while for offline spaces that's not as easy.
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How is that really any different than screening their phone calls or ignoring them if they come to the door?
There are very few people that are schizoid enough to intentionally ignore a friend who comes to their door.
There are very few people that are schizoid enough to ignore someone saying "hey we're not friends anymore, don't contact me again" and then show up at their house
There are very few people what are schizoid enough to think that telling that to someone's face is remotely the same level as using an online block function. The latter has a much much lower barrier.
My experience is real-life friends are more fleeting because you met them through geographic circumstances like school or work that change. Whereas your online friends are there no matter where life takes you.
Does this come from experience or?
My best friends are friends I made due to my software hobby when I was a child. Hard to find such group concentrated in my proximity at the time.
I still continue to talk and meet with them every once in a while even though we are continents apart.
Exactly. Perhaps OP was just lucky to never encounter any hardships that tested his online friendships before they moved to real life.
If someone you call a "friend" ditches you just like that. I think maybe you're too quick to call people friends.
Yes, online people can disappear, but I have online friends whom I've been talking to for the past 12 years (basically all the way back to when i returned to the social internet).
It's really all about trust and time, like any other friendship.