Real Friends
vs
Online Friends
By Winel and Ruby
Who do you trust the most? Your real friends or your online friends? You might be thinking that the answer is reasonably clear since real friends are obviously safer to interact with compared to the ones you have online and we totally agree. Online friends are people who are known exclusively through the internet and rarely, if ever, met in person. Real friends are people who are known personally and seen in person more often than not.
An online friend would only available to talk to when they're active on their social media which adds to the limitations of interaction that come with having online friends and from behind the glowing screen of a device, you wouldn’t ever know who or what you're associating yourself with in reality which can lead to putting yourself and or the others around you in danger.
However after reading this article we discovered there can also be safe online friend relationships with positive outcomes. For example the woman in this story formed amazing, lasting friendships online with people on a chat room that she had never met which, in some cases this can seem unsafe but we were showed that having online friends can also be very beneficial to some people.
We decided to make a survey to find out more about others' experiences with online relationships and what they thought about the idea of having close friends online. People who participated preferred real friends over online friends presumably because of how you can be trusting and honest towards them face to face.
Overall, it’s not fair to say that having online friends or real life friends is better than the other, but there’s something irreplaceable about real, human contact.
The article:
Survey results:
“Roughly how many friends do you have online?’
-20% had under 100 online friends
-30% had 100-250 online friends
-50% had 250+ online friends
“How many of your online friends have you met in person?”
-15% have met 0-20 of their online friends
-5% have met 20-50
-5% have met 50-70
-25% have met 70-100
-50% have met 100+
“Do you plan on meeting any of your online friends in person?”
-5% said Yes
-15% said No
-80% said I know most of my online friends already
“Do you post any photos or videos online you wouldn't want your parents or family members seeing?”
-5% said Yes
-75% said No, never
-20% said Only sometimes
“Can online friends meet your social needs? Eg when your sad can your online friends help you feel better? Explain
-With these results we found that most of the answers were saying how face to face is better for comforting. Some responses however said that online friends can still cheer you up and also social media can make you feel more confident sometimes but mostly the answers were no they cannot meet your social needs.
“Do you add just anyone who requests to be your friend online?”
-0% said Yes, all the time
-73.60% said No, never
-26.32% said Sometimes
“Who do you prefer online friends or real friends?”
-0% said Online friends
-100% said Real friends
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