I met a cool new friend yesterday. She’s from the US and is here with her husband and 5 year old daughter for two years (her husband is military so they’re here for his job). We went out for dinner without kids or partners and just had a really good chat. It was fab. But that’s not really what inspired me to write this post. What inspired me was the fact that I met this new friend online.
I found myself remembering the days back when Teh Interwebz was new. Back when it was still a little strange to spend hours online and everyone (except Kim) seemed to be paranoid about meeting people from the internet face to face. Back, even, before LOLCats had their own blog. Remember that?
When I was in highschool, we made a huge big deal about going to meet these potentially shady “internet people” in groups in public. I remember once when my friend Erica wanted to meet some guy, we descended en masse with at least 4 or 5 people (including Erica) to meet the dude at the Sit ‘n Spin in Seattle. The poor guy must have felt ganged up on.
But it’s not like that now. Meeting people via the internet has almost become the rule rather than the exception. I met most of my friends here in Perth via internet forums and pretty much all of them I met irl without even a second thought for paranoid security. Sometimes we even have new people come to our houses (often in a group meet up situation but that’s just a coincidence more than a rule).
Do I have a point? Does this mean anything? I don’t know. I’d like to think it means that the internet is a fantastic tool for communicating and that it makes the world a little smaller. Sure, it can be used for evil and for Nigerian email scams (not to mention a whole lot of porn … but some of that isn’t so bad ;)). But, for the most part, the internet is a good thing and I would not know so many really awesome people if I didn’t have access to it.
I met up with two new people this weekend who I’d met online, and went for drinks with another chick I’d met online. my other social contact was someone I’d met because we’d been lumped together in a summer program. Awesome 😀
Hear hear! I’ve met amazing, wonderful gems of people online and I would never want to have been so closed off to new things that I missed out on having them in my life. When I was an awkward, lonely and unhappy teen I found a safe haven online, so I have friends from the net that I’ve known more than ten years now. I’ve had an online friend bail me out of getting evicted by wiring me money, unexpected care packages arrive from all over the world, and I’ve just this evening arranged to get a bunch of my clothes that are currently lying fallow in the UK to an Aussie friend I met online who has found herself stranded in Manchester without any winter gear or money.
Going to share this on Facebook – hope that’s okay!
Yes, it’s ok. *goes to double check I didn’t make any stupid typos*
You’re right. I meet people online a fair bit, even though I don’t spend much time on social networking sites, forums, etc. Look at Meetup.com – it’s all about turning internet friends into real life friends! It’s also interesting how much less taboo it is to belong to internet dating sites. How times have changed.
Before I moved to Oz, I spent some time finding potential new friends online. It worked a treat, and by the time I got here, I at least ‘knew’ a few people who would show me around!
I’m not sure if this is good or not, but I feel like I got that whole internet meeting thing out of my system back in high school. Good thing, too, because it was highly addicting.
But it made sense at the time – living in a small town, no public transit, few exiting dating prospects. High school was the best time to do it… and I was lucky that everyone I met from Australia were kind to the nth degree. The internet gave me one of the most exciting periods of my life. I was quite the silly, impressionable, romantic kid back then.
Now, I want spend time making connections with people in my community. I try not to spend a lot of time on the computer when I’m not using it for school or work. But I make an exception for you when I can!
Ah, but the internet fascilitates me making connections within my community. I’ve got a great group of mama friends thanks to natural parenting and homebirth forums.
And all the people you met in Oz were nice except for one. If I ever ran into that one again, I’d probably spit in his face and that would be restraining myself.
Good point. It is possible that I am missing out on meeting some folks… but I can hardly keep up with the people I already know!
BTW, your new photo makes you look like a badass. Tongue piercing or no. I like it.
Bahahaha! A badass with a kitty ear hat? Sweet! (Or should I say “Meow?”) 🙂