Recently, the World Wide Web is drawing more and more people into its networks, and many of us already prefer to make virtual friends, leaving real ones in the past. Why is this happening?
Forming a list of friends, we add to the list only those who are close to us in spirit, interesting in communication, ready to listen and advise, because in real life there are not always people with these qualities. And there is no guarantee that a real friend who has listened to us will not discuss our problems with relatives, friends or neighbors. And those who have become disliked for any reason are easily removed, ignored or included in the "black list".
When communicating with a virtual interlocutor, we easily embellish our appearance, exaggerate our achievements and merits, knowing that a computer friend will never be able to check how true what is written is.
Communicating through the network, we are as liberated as possible, we can write about our dreams and desires, problems, etc., because typing is always easier than saying something while looking into the eyes of the person sitting next to you. With virtual communication, there is no need to monitor your intonation, diction and facial expressions, hide an embarrassed smile or irritation, because the interlocutor does not see us.
Communicating with people from different cities or even countries, we broaden our horizons, learning new things about a foreign culture or society. There is a chance that the virtual interlocutor will invite you to visit, and then there is an opportunity to personally see the beauty and sights of foreign cities.
If there is a desire to meet a virtual friend in real life, then there will be no awkwardness that appears when communicating with strangers, because we know almost everything about each other.
There are also disadvantages in virtual communication: we also do not know how much truth, but how much fiction the interlocutor told us. In a difficult situation, when you want to snuggle up to a strong shoulder or hug a loved one, a virtual friend is unlikely to help us. Communicating on the Internet, we push really close and loyal friends to the background, real communication with whom it is sometimes very difficult to resume.
