online friends ? working title | The New Brunswick Beacon

While the romantic aspect of ?relationships seems ?to take the spotlight when it comes to meeting people online, ?there are many who are looking for something else : friendship. ?With social networks such as Twitter,?Facebook?and?Reddit?still growing, society is still adjusting to these changes.

When 19 year-old David Hawkyard went on the infamous speed-meet website Chat?Roulette?as a joke, he didn?t expect to encounter true friendship. ?But that?s exactly what happened. ?It was kind of odd at first, but at the same time it was interesting,? said Hawkyard. ? ?It was neat learning about a different culture.?

But it was not long before the limitations of a distant friendship had its effect. ??The distance was an issue because it?wasn?t?like having a friend you could talk to in person,? Hawkyard said.

Dr. Michael George, who is a religious studies professor at St. Thomas University, specializes in the relationship between?different?forms of media and how they effect society.

George is?skeptical?on the benefits of these online?friendships. ??An online relationship is only ?virtual,? he said.

George believes that this new phenomenon is too young to truly understand. ?That [social effects] remains to be seen. It may be interesting to find that some people prefer virtual relationships to actual relationships, which has some interesting psychological and social implications.?

While he admits that the internet may be a bridge to understanding other cultures, he believes this is only in a ?vicarious fashion?.

But not all relationships online stay virtual. Last summer university student Megan Aiken attended a gathering of people who met on Reddit.com. ??I do keep in contact with a couple of the people though. It was interesting seeing the types of people that Reddit brings in,? Aiken said.

For David Hawkyard, his Chat?Roulette friendship helped him through a tough period in his life. ??This was during my academic dismissal period so I had a lot of stuff going on at home as well as just in general, and I had my online friend to talk to about it.?

?They can be healthy and they can be unhealthy, it?s hard to say,? said Hawkyard. George and many others would agree.

Source: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/28160/online-friends-working-title/

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