Poll: Are Internet Relationships Real Relationships?

[Sanaj]

I think Internet relationships can lead to real relationships...

It comes down to the anonymity that generally the internet offers creates many opportunities to lie about your identity and personal life.

I don't have any against people using internet or other online methods in order to meet people though.

However, longer distance relationships are more difficult to maintain.

I just think that people have to be careful about internet relationships,
there is no point setting yourself up for a massive disappointment or getting deeply hurt.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

They are real enough. I am interacting with other people.

As for love, I do not belive written words and VOIP can really express it as fully as meeting in person.

 

[Ancientgamer]

Seeing as I just went to the wedding of a 5 year relationship fostered and maintained over the internet. (groom lived in sweden, bride in america)I'd have to say yes.

 

[APPCRASH]

Some are, some are just wishful thinking on both parts, and some are 40 year old men in their undies hoping to score.

There is nothing wrong with that.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

No, they aren't.

 

[Spinwhiz]

I'd like to see the people who have an "internet love-connection" and then actually meet. It seems to me like "internet relationships" can deal a lot with imagination and mystery but when all those are revealed, the dream shatters and real life once again sets in.

Just my 2cp.

PS. I want to stress MOST TIMES...not all.

 

[xChevelle24]

No.

I find that people online are different than they are in real life. If you don't meet someone and like them in real life, then there is no way you can carry out a REAL relationship.

Sorry for all you internet daters out there, but your internet personalities don't count as your actual personality.

 

[CosmicJester21]

No

Until you meet IRL it means nothing

 

[Fairee]

It depends. If you're totally honest with each other, and at some point actually meet, an internet based relationship could work out fine. However, it's harder to tell what people think, and you can easily get the wrong impression, so you'd have to be careful.

 

[Duncanex]

no, it's just weird.

exactly what i was thinking

 

[CrazyNick]

I met my girlfriend at a party, she lives 200 miles away and I have met up with her quite a few times though, I think this would class as a partly online relationship but it works and its all the more fun when we do meet up

 

[solidstatemind]

As with most things, there is no black and white answer. I certainly believe that Internet relationships can be real and meaningful, regardless of whether or not the people actually meet face to face. (Although I will agree that meeting in person almost always adds an additional level of reality- or maybe even validity- to an Internet relationship.)

I think that all the Internet changes about dating and relationships is the venue, really. People can be just as committed or just as flaky as they are in real life. They can be as truthful and honest or as deceitful in real life. The bottom line is that just because the anonymity of the Internet makes it easier to be a phony doesn't mean that people are incapable of being true and real on forums, in games, or in email.

All and all, I'd compare it to a long-distance relationship; certainly not ideal, and very likely to fail (because of the impossibility of meeting some fundamental interpersonal needs), but not necessarily 'fake'.

 

[InProgress]

Actual love, rarely. Being friend with someone over the internet and then meeting up in real life and still remain, yes.

 

[petrolmonkey]

As most have said, they can be as long as the people do meet up and do things. Just neing 'with' someone purely online doesn't cut it.

 

[mikecoulter]

It's usually a weird phase I think. To love someone, you need to know them a bit better than the things you can communicate over the internet.

 

[ffxfriek]

No, they aren't.

seconded

 

[Flunk]

Other-> Only if you eventually meet up and start dating for real. I was once introduced to a girl online, we chatted for a while and then met and started dating. We lived fairly far from each other but got together at least once every 1-2 weeks and kept in touch online and over the phone. That would be an example of a Online->Real relationship in my mind.

 

[Labyrinth]

I'd like to see the people who have an "internet love-connection" and then actually meet. It seems to me like "internet relationships" can deal a lot with imagination and mystery but when all those are revealed, the dream shatters and real life once again sets in.

Just my 2cp.

PS. I want to stress MOST TIMES...not all.

Purps and Larenxis. Seriously.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Whether it's love or friendship it can occur and it can be real. Difficult, but real. I've got close friends I've met online and then met in the real world. What it comes down to is how well one can communicate and patience.

 

[Spinwhiz]

I'd like to see the people who have an "internet love-connection" and then actually meet. It seems to me like "internet relationships" can deal a lot with imagination and mystery but when all those are revealed, the dream shatters and real life once again sets in.

Just my 2cp.

PS. I want to stress MOST TIMES...not all.

Purps and Larenxis. Seriously.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Whether it's love or friendship it can occur and it can be real. Difficult, but real. I've got close friends I've met online and then met in the real world. What it comes down to is how well one can communicate and patience.

Yup, I can agree. I actually my girlfriend through MySpace and became friends first. We've been together over 8 months and I can only see me in it for the long haul BUT, that was a social site. What about MMO's? People can get an idea in their head about what people look like, how they are in real life, etc. The people that get attached to their "lover's character" may be in for a real letdown if they ever actually meet.

 

[Samoftherocks]

Love is whatever you want or need it to be. To say that love found over the internet is not real is only subjective, though it is understandable why a cynic would be correct to assume so. Love online is safe. To end it requires you simply to not login or reply. So the value of someone saying "I love gamergrrrl1234!" online is limited to whether you end up taking that love offline and actually becoming a face to face relationship.

My soon-to-be-wife is here because we reconnected on myspace. We live together and raise her daughter, and are generally happier than either of us have been in a great long while. I consider us and anyone else in our position to be lucky, but it took work to get to where we are, so a bit of that luck was forged by ourselves. We needed more contact than just the internet and made it happen.

Others simply don't need that contact and the feelings are no less valid than any other relationship. In the case of high school age love, yes, it's a phase, jesus GOD don't marry her for chrissake!!!!