Every get told your internet friends aren’t real?
Yeah me too.
I think otherwise, but let’s take a look at what the science has to say.
Hey everyone, Julia here for DNews
Having friends is incredibly important to your health, I mean humans are social creatures.
A recent study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science showed that those
who spend more time alone have a greater risk of dying.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School say that strong relationships are “every bit
as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking.”
But in today’s digital age, do internet friends count as real friends?
Recent research from Stanford University found that when people connect in online communities,
they initially trust strangers but that trust erodes over time.
The looked at a popular website, Couchsurfing and found that rating systems initially create
trust between strangers but once people have a lot of reviews, it’s harder to build stronger
social ties.
And this makes some sense.
I mean if you’re about to sleep on a stranger’s couch you want to know that other people had
good experience there.
(and that they aren’t going to kill you or anything) but on the other hand it could
make experiences and relationships more predictable.
I feel like there’s a lot of bias against having internet friends.
My own mother tells me that they’re not real.
Like WHAT!?
Come on.
Other people think this too, one NYT article claimed that shared experience is the basis
of good friendships.
But science shows that sharing personal information creates strong social ties.
Researchers call this self-disclosure.
When you share something about yourself it feels good and some studies show it might
make people like you more.
But it also makes you like the person you told your secret to more.
Research seems to be up in the air about trust between internet buddies.
Some studies show that people actually share more intimate details with their friends online
than in face to face.
It’s kind of a way to overcompensate for the lack of physical intimacy.
but other studies show the opposite.
One study published in the Public Library of Science compared the effects on happiness
of real life friends and online friends.
The study found that on-line friends have zero or negative correlations with subjective
well-being.
But to be fair the average age of that study was 45.
I think the youths have a very different way of interacting on Facebook, reddit, tumblr
, whatever than older adults..
But at the end of the day, friendship is personal.
One study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior found that social networks
provide just another way to connect with people and that this connectedness is associated
with lower depression and anxiety and greater life satisfaction.
And those internet friends can turn into IRL friends, one study showed that 30% of people
will meet up with their online pals.
Anecdotally, I have a great community of internet friends, (HI SAN) some of whom I’ve met
IRL and have become my best friends.
So what do you think?
Do you have internet friends?
Let us know …..