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The Thin Line Between Virtual and Real Relationships
Most people nowadays have Whatsapp buddies, people who you chat freely with about your life and issues, without actually having to meet them in real life.
Sometimes, they even know more about you than your close friends and family… They can accurately gauge the mood and need, and provide necessary words of comfort and encouragement.
This is similar to what used to happen years ago in airplanes, when we didn’t carry along our laptops and tablets to watch movies… The person on the next seat shared their entire life story, safe in the knowledge that they may never meet the person again.
Which brings me to the real purpose of this blog — What makes virtual relationships so real, and why are anonymous relationships actively sought?
Are we filling voids in our existing real-life relationships, or are we simply seeking safe refuge?
A space to open up and share with a person, knowing he may not judge you or expect anything of you, but still someone you can lean on — at least virtually — to make sense of your world.
While we seek these safe virtual listening boards, how do the real relationships suffer, or get enhanced?
Also, why have they stopped measuring up to our expectations, or lack thereof…and why have they failed to provide the support we seek elsewhere?
Is it judgement and lack of honesty that holds people back? Or, is it a lack of patience to be understood — or misunderstood — by those ‘who should already know you well enough’?
We take real relationships for granted, because we expect them to have reached a certain level of evolution.
We expect the other person to simply understand us, without having to communicate much… We may not be patient enough to accurately communicate what we need, but we still blame the other for lack of understanding.
Ironically, we don’t hesitate to display that same level of patience — even more at times — when communicating virtually to a person who may not have any direct impact, or consequence, in our lives.
