The Internet is not safe, how could it be...yet, here I have found a safe place to express myself.Kathryn Antyr from Collage Diva wrote this post about how she feels connection with other people online and how when someone IRL (in real life) dismisses her online life she has a disconnect with them. I too feel this way. It feels like the person who does not understand is shutting a door that I then will not be able to open to them.
It is a struggle for me though, to find balance between an online life and a life in vivo or in person because paradoxically I do feel safer online. I think this is an illusion.
What do you think?
8 comments:
I think each person has to find her own truth. I have to decide if cyber connections with humans are replacing or enhancing and supplementing face-to-face ones. I have to decide if being online is unhealthy and addictive or if it enriches my life.
This weekend Sylvain got a chance to meet a dear friend whom I still miss very much since moving away from Waterloo. He asked me how we met. "Through my blog" was my answer. She read it and discovered that we had much in common then suggested we get together. We did and have been good friends ever since.
I think balance is important. Although at one time my blog friends were first and foremost the people I knew would 'get' me. Back then, my 'real' friends were not so understanding, so I know where you are coming from O.
Safety is indeed an illusion, however your blogging experience has been good, so why would you not feel this way?
I love my blog friends.... They (you) are of great value to my life. Only a blogger could understand this!
This is a great question Olivia. I have met some fantastic people online (including you) and I have met a couple jerks. But with my online pals sometimes I feel I can be more honest with them because I don't feel like they are judging me.
Hope your shingles are feeling better. Take care. H&K
EB
As a person who has just started blogging and making connections online, I know that before I did it, I wasn't that intersted, even though one of my good friends was totally immersed in it. I checked her blog now and then, but didn't know what the big deal was. Now that I'm blogging, lots of my friends ask me WHY? They aren't really interested, but I get it.
I do feel that I can express myself openly online and that I rather like it! For me, it's just two different aspects of my life right now, both of which I enjoy fully.
Ideally it would be great to have the best of both worlds - good IRL friends and great blogging friends. Yet I have noticed that may not be the case always. I think through blogging I have found a kinship in times of isolation from the 'real world'. It is nice to know that even if you aren't in a position to get out there into the world, you still find people who 'get you'.
I think the scarier part is meeting or talking on the phone with blogger friends and finding out if you really click. So far I have been happily surprised as these friends become more than online friends and merge into real life friends. It all seems pretty organic at some point.
I never addressed the safety question, did I? I have never felt unsafe online, but I do not use my real full name on my blog. However, that is not for safety's sake; it's because I don't really want my coworkers and employer knowing me THAT well. I feel safe revealing deep dark secrets online. I have almost never had a response that was not caring and compassionate.
I just kind of dismiss people in my real life world who don't get the value and true connection of my on-line friendships as missing out on something themselves. I don't dismiss my relationships with them, but look for other things that we have in common. I know how much this blogland life has brought me. It is something I credit with saving my life in some ways, by giving me connections when I felt lonely and in despair and by providing with a place where I can be my shiniest self.
If someone poo-poos that without having experienced it themslves, that is their just their opinion, and I can let that go.
I am grateful for the on-line parts of my life but also know that like in all things, there has to be a balance between that and my LIVE life.
Love to you, Seeker-Lady !
i like my online "life" and LOVE my online friends.
i think and try to keep my private life more "private" i know it makes no sense but i do have a job (law) and they warns us that big possibility of something going wrong or misused.
anyways in my real life i am a quiet being so i am not worried much, and try to think of my love ones when i hit publish.
hugs my dear Olivia you are in my heart big time
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