How is friendship defined? Is it defined by someone you see on a regular basis? Is it defined by someone you meet for dinner, a movie, or a baseball game? Is it defined by the ability to give that person a hug, to see their face and share their joys and their sorrows? If the ability to move, to see, or to go out of your residence was a precursor to friendship, then those who are blind, paralyzed, or housebound would not have any friends.
Thanks to the Internet, the word friendship now has a much broader meaning. No longer is a friend someone you can physically see or touch. No longer are the bonds of friendship limited to telephone conversations, movies, pizzas, or speaking face to face. In this day and age, very close friendships are formed without the people ever meeting but by simply typing words on a screen.
Often when the subject of online friendships comes up, the group is divided. There are those who understand completely when someone speaks of the close friendships they have formed with someone online. The members of this group are those who enter the chat rooms, subscribe to mailing lists, and utilize the assorted messenger programs which facilitate communication with other people online.
Initially, all that is exchanged is a screen name. However, as the conversation progresses, often other small details are exchanged and it's not unusual for two complete strangers to find out that they have much in common.
The members of the other group don't believe that friendships can be formed between people who haven't met face to face. They say to really know someone enough to form a friendship, the person must be accessible by means other than a computer screen.
But if this is true, then what of the people who have moved away and don't see friends for years at a time, keeping in touch only by means of a telephone or by email? Are those friendships any less precious than the new friendships that may have formed simply because the person who may have moved doesn't see their friends on a regular basis?
The Internet is a wonderful invention, which has afforded the world the opportunity to meet people from cultures other than our own. When people meet online, there very little to none of the bias or the scrutiny which happens in a face to face meeting. Unless a person freely provides a picture or a physical description of themselves, the person they are chatting with gets to know them before they know their skin tone, their religious affiliation, or any possible disabilities.
Friendship is friendship, no matter the means through which the friendship is formed.
Makkah Time
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