Friends.

Friendship.

It is a concept that is as integral to the human psyche as love and in many cases can last longer, bring us richer relationships, and for the most part help make us better human beings. From that close confidant to that high school friend who made those turbulent days tolerable friendship is more important to our own wellbeing than just about anything in our society.

I have been one of those who has railed against the cheapening of Friends and Friendship in this age of Facebook and other social media networks. I believe that things like Facebook have turned the idea of having friends into the most shallow of ideals and made it more of another notch in your belt type of affairs. As well a great number of people, whether they have online identities or not, believe that it is impossible to develop deep online friendships.

In many ways I can understand how people can come to this conclusion but they are wrong. I was reminded of this today when I read an excellent post by SuzeMuse. In it she related a personal experience of just how an online friendship can slide into a real world one that is then enriched by the ability to keep that friendship alive because of the online connection.

Jon Swanson and I were friends for a year before we ever met in person. About 15 minutes before we met for the first time, I called him on the phone to get directions. Up until that moment, when he picked up the phone and said “hello”, our friendship had been entirely based in text on a screen. A few minutes later, we found ourselves sitting across from each other at lunch, and it was like we’d been having lunch together for years. The in-person conversation picked up right where it left off on the screen. And after meeting that day, the conversation moved seamlessly back to the computer screen. Online friendship is a funny thing – it makes no difference how you connect. It’s only important that you connect.