Online Friendship: Real or Not Really

Friendships that start in messages often get dismissed: you've never met, never hung out in person, so it doesn't count. Yet conversations in these friendships can be more honest than with people you see every day. Whether a connection is real isn't determined by the format but by what happens between you: support, interest, willingness to be there. The other question is how to make such a connection lasting, because in messages it depends on effort from both sides.

Why online friendship seems fake

There's no physicality to it. You can't hug, can't sit silently together, can't help someone move. Because of this, closeness feels incomplete, even though the conversation may go deeper than with someone at the next table.