How Real Are Internet Friendships?

Another article by Jeremy Stangroom, this time in the sophists philosophy forum, "How Real Are Internet Friendships? 06/02/04 which points out that it is both easier to deceive other people on the internet than in face-to-face contact, but that also it can release us from some of the distortions of face-to-face relationships

"It does seem to be true that we can have a certain kind of confidence in people we meet in person which is not available in online relationships. Particularly, the opportunity for gross deception is minimised in a face to face situation....it is very easy to deceive people on the internet by inventing wholly imaginary personas - something which it is much more difficult to achieve in the non-virtual world"

But also....

"non-virtual relationships are subject to kinds of distortion which are largely absent from internet relationships......For example, as a consequence of what psychologists call a ‘positive halo effect’, attractive people are considered more intelligent, more moral, better adjusted, nicer, more sexually responsive and more competent than their less attractive fellows. And, of course, it isn’t only attractiveness that influences the judgements we make about people. We also take our cues from, amongst other things, age, sex, racial characteristics, style of dress, accent and social class"