"It took the sudden and unexpected inability to socialize offline to make me understand just how wonderful and valuable my internet friends truly are."
Before the coronavirus arrived ― back when I used to be able to leave my house ― I had my “real-life friends” and my “online friends,” two categorically different groups of people in my mind. My real-life friends were the people I didn’t necessarily see every single day, but with whom I had regularly shared physical experiences at some point in my life: dinners, movies, trips to exotic places. These were people who had seen the hardware of my life, so they knew me from the inside out.
There are all kinds of niche communities on the internet, and some can help us express our true selves in a way that we might not be able to do often — or maybe even ever — in the real world. That’s partly why I love being online: The internet is a place to air grievances, to be funny, to express knee-jerk reactions.
I am now essentially a shut-in, since I am considered high-risk for serious coronavirus symptoms because I suffer from asthma, lifelong respiratory issues, and two recent bouts of bronchitis, from which I am still in recovery, and I also live in a highly infected state and community. And because of the sudden and unexpected inability to socialize offline, I have come to realize how important my online community is ― and always has been ― to me. In short, my online community is my community.
My online friends and I may not ― and may never — meet offline, but I don’t see my college friends or childhood friends in the flesh all that often and I don’t know when I will again.
I’m also learning new ways to communicate and be vulnerable and to express myself because of my online relationships, which in turn broaden and deepen all of my experiences ― virtual or not. Even better, these are tools that I can use with my “real life” friends, who are now, it should be said, online friends, too.
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