Are you more or less lonely since getting online?

[Amelia G]

In a way, the internet let's us talk to people who share our interests from all over the world. Instead of being limited to the other two weirdos and the one sort of artistic person and the three burnouts in a small town, an unusual soul can reach out digitally to people of genuinely similar disposition connected from all over the world.

Yet somehow it seems that a lot of people I know have less real human contact and a bigger ache in their gut since getting online.

Are you more or less lonely since the advent of the internet?

[Forestghost]

well, since I was pretty much a loser in Secondary School (about the time the internet was picking up), I guess I feel less lonely since the advent of the net.
I've used the net to ask guys from school out (and it worked both times)! I use the net to keep in touch with family that I don't get to see. I use the net to keep in touch with my husband when he's away for 6 months (the phone is good too, but sometimes it's fun to explore different websites together).
And I get to share my opinion on BBboards which makes me feel like I'm spending time with people. With the internet, I don't have to worry about doing my hair and makeup to answer a post, and if I say something silly, I can just erase it before I post the message!!

I have real human contact when I want it, but I'm pretty much a loner anyway, so the internet allows me to be myself without as many of the social pressures!

[LrdSatanas]

I have been online so long i forgot what its like to have life without it. But i kinda feel like whayt the point of leaving home if you can talk to people on here?. Ide rather have conversations with people all over the world with my intrest then to talk to the dumbass people in my bible belt town. Alot of people i have talked with online from my past i have meet. some i have not. I have gotten the most fufilling relationships from people i have met offline. (my girlfriend i met offline) most the girls i meet online the relationship was short and physical. never got much further then that. but at the same time there are people i never met but wish i had. But its like my best friend bsarge says. "Shit in one hand and wish into the other and see which one fill up 1st." There are many times where this comp has kept me in touch with people, and Im never lonley. but i always manage to balance the 2. Im not allowed to chat with people online cuz my girl is scared ill hookk up with some skank. But im allowed to post on here. bb rules! I love the internet and i wouldn;t be the same without it!

[killerkat]

hell i go on trips into random ass places,pretty much just get lost somewhere in the wilderness)so im pretty cool without a computer and in all honesty i do more research type stuff then forums and stuff
so i guess i don't get any more lonely.

[aXa]

id say that im less lonely now that im online, but more isolated. i dont have to go out to talk to friends! or just random ppl("hey you! come over here....") and most of my friends around here live at least an hour's drive away...so its less of a hassle to socialize with ppl thro my puter. theres wonderful forums like this and friends from the games i play online.

[corachaos]

Less I think, and more well rounded. I get to interact with people I never would. It's a joy.

[Nightingale]

Less, because it helps me get in touch with people who speak my own language, as well as letting me contact people in all walks of life (with enough gumpf to have access!) throughout the world.

[BrightStar]

Most people tend to get bored or upset when talking to Me, so I avoid talking to people in public anyway.

[Tequila Zaire]

Less to be honest...but I do feel less attached to people. Kinda like talking to ghosts really...

Take you fine people...you're all living breathing human beings but at the same time random faces in a crowd. Kinda like I know you...but I don't know you. Very odd feeling that is.

Everything has a downside I guess.

[grebo]

i am more lonely because most people now spend all their time on their computers, downloading cool music (free of course, yay pirates!), chatting to like minded people on the 'net, playing games, and when you do not have a computer at home you tend to feel left out when they start blabbing on about computery stuff, but the plus side is i actually leave the house and find stuff in 2nd hand shops while theyre looking for it on ebay

[Cthulhu23]

Less.....I still have my friends that I see, but have met many others that I never would have otherwise. (even if I have not got to meet any of them in person yet)

[MistressJennifer]

Less lonely, and no longer in need of a therapist!!! I think the answers that other people can give you are a better therapy than talking to a shrink.

Especially about relationships, break ups, it helps me to know that it happens to everyone.

[K_SyniculOne]

Less lonely. . .more enriched. "You literally have the world at your fingertips."

For me, the Internet is something more of an information tool. I think with the time that I spend on here I should make it purposeful and fun. When I was living in the Midwest, USA, being online for me consisted of completing my graduate degree using distance learning classes (e.g., WebCT) and writing my papers with articles that I found from e-libraries, e-books, e-journals...and yes, BBS/Online communities & groups are the best ways of talking to people who share your interests. I agree!

I have developed about 3-4 'virtual online best friendships' with individuals that I have known for more than two years. Talking to them on 'messenger and voice' as well as exchanging pictures provided some kind of contact beyond just looking at typed words on a screen.

[CPRB]

I like talking to people who are at times like minded but at other times it makes me feel lonley bling right infron of me a bunch of tattoes beautiful girls, I thnk about what they might talk about thier interest...but it's only an image nothing more..nothing real to interact with....but I do like throwing out ideas and seeing what people think and feel and it's nice to see I am not the only one....be nice if we had afew more Canucks on here though....more then i dunno 4......would be nice....I know there alot more people into these thoughts and fasions...at times I feel lonely at times I don't....I try not to think about it

[TheDeathKnight]

Yeah, I've met a few cool new friends online...

Meeting people online is a better way of being selective.
I meet decent, normal people, at work, etc, that want to be my friends.
But I prefer to seek out people who are like me, because who wants
to waste time being friends that are boring, or do not like to do the
same kinds of things you do? I don't want to watch the super bowl,
or watch network TV, etc... I want to be friends with people who like
the same stuff I like. So the whole online thing is an excellent way
to seek out people with similar interests.

[morbid_lady]

we first got the internet when i was about 11 or 12, at the time i had absolutely no friends, not even ppl i just hung out with, i couldnt even hang out with my brother cuz other kids at skewl had done stuff that tore us apart and made us hate each other (we are twins and were always in the same class). when we got the internet i really got into chatrooms and instant messengers like ICQ that could let me talk to random ppl. i had alot of ppl that i talked to on a regular basis and some that i still talk to today (5or 6 yrs later). but i had no accual friends only ppl online. to me they felt like real friendships and in a way they were, they were the closest things to friendship i had ever had. i thought it was normal until my mom started getting worried and asking me why i didnt go out and why i never hung out with ppl at skewl.

now its pretty much the same, i have one friend that i hang out with but thats about it. i guess because of the internet i never really learned real social skills or how to go out and meet, i'm really afraid to go out, it feels like ppl are always watching me waiting for me to screw up so they can make fun of me. me and my bro are alright now, and his friends dont mind when i hang out with them, and i know they wont make fun of me, but i still feel so distant from them when i go out with them, cuz the whole group are really close and i'm just an outsider. online its not like that, even if ur in a chat room u can talk one on one.

i tried meeting one of the guys i talked to online a few years ago, we met and he ditched me to hang out with some chick i used to know who came up and started hitting on him. because of that i didnt meet anyone in real life until about 2 weeks ago. the guy i met i've been talking to for over 2 yrs and now were going out, but i when we get together i can never say anything because i'm afraid i will screwup or do something stupid. when we talked online i had no problem...

but whether i'm less or more lonely, really dont know.