although, i wonder....
sometimes we social media types get flack from non-social media types about having 'virtual' friends or forming 'relationships' with people whom (who?) we have never met, and most likely never will meet. (although SOMEDAY i hope to get to a Juneathon lunch in Hyde Park....!!)
I wonder if people who 'met' via pony express got the same ribbings from those who didn't. Or telegraph users. What about pen-pals when you were a kid? Some random kid your age-ish in some far away land (Cleveland, Bismark, or Clear Lake), who you never met, who you wrote back and forth with for a summer or two:
Dear Pen Pal,
Things here in (insert town) are just great. We went to get ice cream last night, and i got my favorite kind: vanilla! You should try it. Do you have ice cream where you live?
Your Pen Pal,Gene
(the above never actually happened. i don't think. at least not the part about the doll; my sister didn't have store-bought dolls. no, we weren't dirt poor. our Mom is a seamstress.......)
Did we get flack from that? Ok, maybe a little flack, but hey, we were kids, etc. etc.
Alls i'm sayin' is that I enjoy my virtual friends. Do i spend too much time conversing with them and not my family? Sometimes, sure. I have commalities with my VFs that i don't have with my RFs. I can communicate about blog hits, posting, writer's block, hosting options, diet struggles, motivation, etc with VFs. My RFs aren't into these things. For the most part. Most of the people who i consider RF's are actually family members; my social circle is small. But distinguished. (go ahead, Adam, say it. I'll wait.)
Gotta work on that......
Anyone in the Upper Valley wanna hang out? Mebbe go for a trail run sometime? TRX? Take kiddos to the park/museum/TipTopPottery????
Anyone?
Beuller?
VFs can be just as rewarding as real friends and they come with the added benefit that if you ever visit a new city, state, country you have someone to show you around, take you for a run, or grab a drink with.
ReplyDeleteI have found that I have made as many RL friends via blogging. Race-reports tend to attract people from the race, who then come up and introduce themselves (or comment online) at the next race. I think that justifies the friends I make Online, as runners are cool people no matter where they are.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe any of you actually exist. This is all just the manifestation of the voices that used to be solely in my head but now exist in the computer.
ReplyDelete