Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I find myself using the term "Internet Friend" (especially with people who are not computer savy) to differentiate between people who I might see at the grocery store and people I may never meet "in person".
I am not happy with this term because it sounds a lot like "Imaginary Friend" - who I last had at the age of 5.
Any better suggestions to get the concept across - I almost want to find a term similar to "Penpals" - (Netpals??)
Unless I know their real name, I'll refer to that Online Friend by their screen name. But I do refer to them collectively as my "friends". because there's really no difference in my eyes between a friend that you hangout with at the mall, and a friend whom you talk to via computer.
To be honest...internet friends really aren't much different than imaginary friends to me anyway. The only difference is I can't control internet friends like I could my childhood imaginary friends but when push comes to shove people on the net might as well be imaginary.
LOL - I can just see the face of some of my non-computer friends when I refer to some of the screen names I have seen "outloud".
"I was "talking" to my friend Bay21638 the other day and he/she "said"................
Well, I usually leave out long strings of numbers.. but yeah. I do all the time. Because the internet is so widely used, it's not as outlandish as it seems. I've even got cell/home numbers of online friends - who are listed in my phone under their screen name.
I mean, if you're a little shy to use the screen name, just use "online buddy" or something colloquial to that effect. Either way, you're not going to look "silly" or anything just because you've met a few cool people without actually meeting them.
i don't have any internet friends and i don't think i would admit it if i did
Perfect example - if I were telling someone without computer experience that "Shymonkey doesn't think they have any Internet friends" they would probably say "Because they are shy?"
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
