Comments on: Are Social Networks Destroying Offline Relationships?

By: emerginenergy

emerginenergy — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:19:03 +0000

I think some people think that net rlationships aren’t real and do things they usually would not do. It is all real people! Good work Chris!

By: felinoid

felinoid — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:43:07 +0000

I went through a few handles on the BBSes. The last two, I was Paranoid then I became Felinoid and then when I joined the Internet I’ve been Felinoid everywhere until recently (Like just this month) I switched back to Paranoid.

By: Jezerv

Jezerv — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:34:35 +0000

What about family relationships? Its usually offline, what happens when some of the family members are spending 7 hours a day online?
lol. I personally don’t think that soc. networks destroy offline relationships, I’ve been online for years and and my offline relationships is fine if not better.

By: Bobertoq

Bobertoq — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:02:57 +0000

LOL… I met ponzi on the internet… where do you expect me to find people? A bar?! lol. i do not think networks destroy offline relationships

By: JPilot2

JPilot2 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:11:36 +0000

Did you know Rose Marshack, she was blogging before blogging was even a word. Google it!

By: GerTheBear

GerTheBear — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:13:02 +0000

No experience with online but did post a personal ad once. Met a few folks, and nothing ever came of it, but but one person I met had obviously answered the ad so her and her friends could see what sort of person wrote personal ads. Met at a bar of her chosing and after a couple drinks and a stteady stream of her friends came along (about 6-7 in a 15 minute period) I caught on to what they were doing and left – and left her with the bill. Never tried it again.

By: Sano

Sano — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:45:17 +0000

Online relationships doesn’t necessarily destroy offline relationships. But I think it depends on how you’re communicating both when you’re online and offline. If you’re just posting in a forum and chatting on IRC all day long, chances are high that you’ll become somewhat asocial (from an offline point of view). I’m in my last year of upper secondary school, and my school is full of geeks, and it’s easy to point out the people who has become a little asocial. For example some of my classmates spend a lot of time together, they bring their laptops home to each other instead of going home alone all the time. And they are much more social and outgoing than many others.

I think that if you stop communicating like an “offline person” you’ll eventually forget how to do it. Eventually it will all be in your fingers, like when you’re typing “lol” and not laughing out loud, even though you think something is funny.

My advice would be to use your mic whenever you can, you don’t have to use a webcam, just by audio it’s a whole different thing compared to plain text. I’m nowhere near perfect but at least I know what I can do to improve my social skills, if that’s what you call it (lol).

By: Cathy Stucker

Cathy Stucker — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:38:30 +0000

I agree completely, Chris. My husband kids me about my online “imaginary friends,” but in some ways I know my online friends better than my offline friends. And in many cases, online friends have become offline friends, too.

The Internet does not destroy human interactions, it enhances them and creates new ways to interact.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:57:36 +0000

I agree with Chris. I’d say it’s the perfect combination and they supplement each other. On line you can chat and slowly get to know the person, and yes you do tend to be more open about a lot of things when you are behind a monitor.My girlfriend and I started out as friends, we knew each other, we’d go for coffee but we “really got to know each other” late at night chatting on MSN, where we devulged our innermost secrets, our likes/dislikes and things that we may never have told each other face to face

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:16:02 +0000

I agree fully, I met my husband on an AOL chat room, before they even had internet dating! :P

By: Santosh

Santosh — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:31:04 +0000

Hi Chrish,

A valid point. I have myself created some social platforms on the web and I definitely advocate SNS. For you and me the progression has been BBS, Groups, Email, Blog, Forums and then to SNS. For some, however this is still a great place to kill the time. They have moved from one couch syndrome to another – from TV to Web. There are two types of users here – Tech Users, the participants of the medium and the users who are the pure consumers of this medium.

For me, you are the producer and I am also a guy who is engaged in pre-production and post-production of the web. Our view about this medium will be completely different that the view of a teenage who is looking out for voyeuristic pleasures on the web or just kill some time off home work.

No matter, how active the medium is when you think about the masses the large proportion of it would be still ‘passive’. But again it’s not the fault of the SNS or Web, it is an inherent attribute of human beings.

Human being are intelligent and self-equipped to destroy their offline relationships with or without SNS.

Cheers!!!
Santosh

By: Nicole Simon

Nicole Simon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:13:28 +0000

Some people do not have the mental capacity / connectors / sensors for it, and I do not mean this in any quality way – I usually compare it to “and I do not have any for cooking”.

For some people it really is not normal to go through online. But the same kind of people plus most of the rest tell me “uhm what again is that thing you are doing” – it is not going to be a offline relationship unless I cut back way on what I like to get out of friends.

Looking at the time since I was online in 95, I got to know so many people I call friends and acquaintances that I would not exchange it for anything in the world. Because realistically the other way is not working – for me. [btw it must have been something like 97 or so when I got to "know" somebody called Chris Pirillo who was sending out that newsletter from the other side of the world to me ...]

Are there downsides to building relationships online? Of course. And I expect most people to get their head around this not for another decade or so – sadly.

By: mrchosop

mrchosop — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:42:25 +0000

It was an april fools joke.

By: Invrom

Invrom — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:40:03 +0000

True! Thanks Chris!

By: animaluser789

animaluser789 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:39:58 +0000

its an april fools joke.