The internet and relationships

Seeing most of us seem to hang around Facebook a bit, do you honestly think it is possible to fall for someone online, without ever having met? I'm personally still sceptical but seen it happen to a male friend just recently and despite my reservations I've never seen the guy so happy.

Can it really work?

I think it's an individual by individual case type thing myself, but if both the peoples hearts are in the same place, sure why not..

I've certainly heard my share of horror & happy endings to know it's something that you don't leap into but don't write off either..

You certainly have the opportunity online of getting to know people a hell of a lot better & faster than without the net.. take this site for instance we learn intimate thoughts, desires, peeves & interests about each other that we wouldn't have learned for a decade otherwise.. <shrug>

I have an open mind still.. perhaps I'm a sucker for punishment, but I think it's important to remain open all the same, you never know what you might miss out on if you're too cynical or easy to close yourself off to.

I think it can happen, but I think it's almost impossible to maintain. Any long distance relationship takes supreme commitment and sacrifice, let alone if you have a situation where the parties concerned are living on opposite sides of the globe or something. Yeah you can fall in love with them, but its human nature to crave companionship, touch, closeness and unless one or both people are prepared to take a huge leap of faith and leave everything they have in order to pursue a 'maybe', it will eventually die in the arse. So yeah I think its definately possible, but the odds of success would be scarily low in my book.

I think you are just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Even assuming that the person on the other end of the keyboard is really who they say they are, really looks like the pic they are sending you, isn't married with 8 kids hidden away in another room, you still can't be together. All you can do is get hopeless attached to an illusion that will 99% of the time never come true. Why put yourself through that I wonder? The worlds a big place. Surely you could find a flesh and blood person who can share REAL experiences with you and do REAL things with you, closer to home.

Sure it can work, if you want it to? Only if you want it to though.
They can come see you anytime, or vise versa.
BUT lolol I don't think you REALLY know someone till you live with them.
If you live close, and see eachother. Everytime you do, its like a honeymoon. When you live together, its a way different story.
So yes the computer thing works. I have a friend who is in the states, and giong to England to marry a girl he met on line.

I'm pretty sure it can, but like Chaz I think you can only drag it on for so long before one half or both people have to make a leap of faith and move closer to one another. Even if I felt like I was head over for them though, I wouldn't be making such an announcement until I'd spent alot of time in their presence. You after all need the physical connection as well as the emotional one, and theres only one way to put that to the test.

My thoughts on this matter have changed dramatically over the past year or so. I've never really understood how anyone could possibly allow themselves to become emotionally attached to someone they have never met in the flesh, but my opinions have definately done a complete 360.

But what the internet giveth, the internet also taketh away.

You may have the opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life, and from all over the globe who a few short years ago you would never have had the chance to have in your life at all, yet at the same time, it brings people into your lives who you click with automatically, yet you have little or no hope of ever meeting. Despite all your good intentions, you suddenly find yourself doing the 'if/but/if only' type scenario that can quite often lead to nothing but heartbreak.

But I have seen it succeed with my own eyes. A friend of mine from Scotland actually met a Aussie guy online, came out to this country, found that the chemistry was just as strong offline as on, and now 5 years later is married with a little girl and deliriously happy.

So it can happen :)