Real life friends vs. Online friends?

[wolfdog01]

Alrighty so, just as the title implies, how do your online friends differ from your real friends?

Do they seem to be about the same or is there a MAJOR change in attitudes? Do you like your online friends better or your real life friends? (Seems a bit like an obvious question but you never know)

Honestly I see online friends as more caring and wanting to help out people than any of my actual friends. I mean I guess I feel like they don't get nearly as happy or excited about my drawings than I get with theirs because I want to try and be nice, I read what they write and take in details but I feel as though they look at mine and just go 'meh.' And they're much more careless (some of them) I feel when it comes to serious matters or something... and some just think they know everything.

But with online friends, like FH friends, they would come running to you like a mob if you felt sad or had a bad day, they appreciate art and stories like it's the best thing in the world and it really helps some people to escape from reality. Plus if you don't want to be friends with someone it's no big deal to just say it. But it's also hard to trust people that you don't know.

They both have their upsides and downsides, and I want to know what you guise think about it. ^^

[PrettyReckless]

They don't.
Though, I happen to have more friends online than in real life.
Always been awkward and all. ^^

But my online friends care a great lot, and are therefore very important to me.
I hardly speak to the friends I have irl, unless I'd bump into them.
While I speak to my online friends every day 'n night.

[Honest~Faith]

Tricky question. I thought about this question for a while and I think I've got the answe. My online friends in Feral-Heart care about me. Now for my real life friends, usually when I draw something on a piece of paper, my friends just go like "That looks nothing like one" and that makes me feel.. uh.. sad. All of a sudden, my friend draws something better than my drawing and I feel left out. Of course, I say "WOW! That's amazing" and I usually say "Yeah I know, my drawing isn't good" but of course, that's a lie, I need to agree with my friends because then I would feel stupid if I wouldn't agree with them.
As for my online friends, they always appreciate my art work no matter how horrible it is. A miserable day? They run up to me and ask me if I'm okay. I can always count on my online friends but my real life friends as well.
My real life friends usually joke around but they never know what they are actually saying. As for my real life friends, they do ask me what's wrong but that happens rarely. A good thing about my friends is that they do appreciate me from time to time, they do think I'm funny etc. They usually hang out with me which makes me also appreciated.

Mm.. I do prefer my online friends a little bit but I also like my real life friends. It's a hard decision.

[Vespian]

Personally, I'd rather not differentiate the two parties and contrast them to one another for they all mean a great deal to me. Online or not, they're still my pals and I'd do anythin' for them. Now when I say this, I don't mean those who one-side consider me to be their best bud just because I gave them a piece of gum or somethin'. They're not my friends. The few who I do consider a friend are the ones that I'm comfortable smilin' and practically sayin' anythin' around. The ones who, just by glimpsin' at my face, knows when something's wrong and then starts to bug the crap out of me and/or make me laugh so I can tell them what's on my mind. The one's who know about Vespian and everythin' about him. They are my real friends.
I won't lie though as I admit, I have more online-friends. However regardless, each party has their ups and downs, good days and bad days. In the end, we're all still human. The only thing that's different is that computer screen my online-friends sit behind in order to communicate with me no matter where their residence may be.

[cloudfire]

They don't differ for me.
Online friends, I see them all the time and love talking to them on Skype. They have the same interest in me and never fail to pick me up when I'm sad.

Same goes for IRL friends. I do have a small group of friends that are just as weird as I am and without them I don't know where I'd be. (Although without my irl friends around I'm pretty awkward. ._.)

[SteampunkWolfdog]

The only difference between my real life friends and online friends is that I cannot physically see my online friends. But to me that doesn't matter much. Other than that though, I'd say they were very similar types of people.
I don't favour one over the other; they're all special to me. However, given the current stage that me and my real life friends are in, most of them are at university all over the country so I rarely see them as often as I would like to - only on occasions like holidays. So at this point, it's my online friends that are keeping me sane xD What a tough job that must be.

[xcandyheartsx]

I prefer online friends over real life friends.
I have never had any friends in reality, because the people I did meet didn't understand me as much because they were younger then me, and they didn't have the same interests as me, etc.
Now that I never go outside, I'm extremely pale and ugly. I would look like a terrifying ghost to everyone that I would try to socialize with, so I have my online friends. c:

[WoodDog]

.

[unnbrellas]

Well...
I hold my real life friends very close, which is why I only have about 3 who I've known for 6+ years. They know everything about me, and I to them. So they know when I want to be serious and when I want to joke. They also put up ith my randomness, fan girling, and pride.

My online friends I enjoy the company of, but in all honesty I put little faith in them. It would be to easy for someone to just poof- it's happened before. So I really hide my negitive side and just be as nice as I can, so that I can make some friends without testing their loyalty for years.

Long story short: I put my trust and loyalty in my RL friends, while my online friends just give me some great company.

[wolfdog01]

It's fascinating to read all of your responses! ^^

I do hold some of my RL friends dearly, but only two, and I can already tell that one of them is going to be fading away soon. I do like them and they usually make me laugh and we do have quite a bit of fun but there's a lot of drama sometimes as well and I feel like they don't know me as well as they should.

But then online friends I can never really trust since I don't know who they really are on the other side of the screen, I know that's bad to say but that's what my mother always tells me. But you guise end up cheering me up faster than my RL friends and I can learn new things since some of you are from the other side of the world!