Are Real World Relationships Being Substituted by Online Relationships?
How can someone forgo the touch and companionship of a real human being in favor of a relationship that only exists in cyber space? When you say it out loud it does sound unbelievable, yet when you actually spend the time to weigh up the pros and cons of it, it can start to make sense.
A real relationship is based on trust; it is a solid and real commitment. In a real relationship you are both seen for exactly who you are, and though you may be loved exactly for that reason it means that nothing can be hidden. However, in an online relationship you can choose to be whoever you want, you don't even have to use your real name. Identities can be manufactured and personalities, past and career achievements created to go along with them. You may never set eyes upon the other person in the relationship. You have no proof that the picture you have been sent is a true representation of your virtual partner, just as they have no proof that you are actually who or what you say you are. These are relationships that can be built entirely upon lies and falsehoods and yet both parties in this relationship can gain satisfaction from it.
They say that the digital age has made the world smaller; people can now communicate more easily, which is certainly true. The thing is they are not talking face to face. If anything people are more isolated now than they ever were, sitting at home looking at a screen that can connect them to anyone anywhere in the world. Perhaps it's no wonder that they reach out to form relationships with people they will probably never meet in the real world. They are entering into what is practically a risk free relationship. It allows them to be the person that they have always wanted to be without the fear of being found out or ridiculed, or even worse, hurt and abandoned.
Real world relationships are full of highly charged emotions, ups and downs. Yet real relationships offer something that an online relationship never could. Humans are by nature social creatures, we need to communicate and interact with others. We need to touch, we need contact and we need the real love of another like minded individual to make us whole. That is something that an online relationship can never replace.
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