This whole Internet thingy is weird! It's like I don't feel I'm actually doing something productive on my computer unless I'm connected. Writing text without being able to seek the net is vile! Besides it makes me feel really uneasy not being on-line; cut out from the world somehow.
I like the fact that I’m always able to interact; such as when it’s too late, or early for that matter, phoning people. I like being able to keep track of people at my own leisure. I also like the fact that I am able to have the choice of being available for interaction or not. I suppose in the real world I have that spy eye on my front door, but then people can still see if I’ve got the lights on or not, so that’s it for not opening the door … Blocking is a lot more discreet and of course also risk free when it comes to offending people or not. I like the fact that one on the Internet one is able to be a lot more selective about with whom one mingles, than one is in real life.
Another weird thingy is those Internet friends one has. I have people I consider close friends, living in far away parts of the world; people I've never met or have spoken a single audible word to. Those people are like dots here and there, spread out across the planet ... Often they feel at least as close as ones real life friends, but for obvious reasons more difficult to grip... Very unreal, but also intense relationships goes on. I am amazed at the apparent possibility of falling in love with people over the net, just through exchanging words. What I find weird, and interesting, is that you can be very close to someone without being part of a person’s family and friends-network. I have friends that could go and die on me, without me having the faintest, because of no other connection then the one-to-one dialogue.
When it comes to real life friends there is always a lot of linkage, as in people and places. This makes for obligations. With Internet-friends obligations are a lot more uncomplicated. When someone adheres to them, though, I find it comes across as nicely genuine and honest. I like virtual relationships.
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I think the "falling in love" over the internet is such a common occurence precisely for the reasons you mention, you know so little about the person, and therefore have to fill in all the gaps yourself (and obviously you colour them in to suite your expectations). Coupled with this is a second reason why it happens: You allow yourself to become a lot more intimate with a virtual person on an emotional level, and to share feelings more readily than you would with people in a physical context.
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