As adults, it can become more difficult to make and keep new friends. Lives are busy and responsibilities can make it hard to find time to nurture friendships. Add social anxiety as the cherry on top and online friendships start to look attractive. Friendships are essential for living well as humans.
If you’re missing out on friendships, the online community is a fantastic alternative. Take a look at this quick guide on making strong friendships online to get you started.What Are Your Goals?
Before you start diving into the world of online friendships, it’s important to think about what you want out of it. Are you looking for someone to chat about life with? Are you hoping to meet in-person with friends that you make online?
Perhaps you work remotely and you want to get to know your co-workers better. When you think about what you want to achieve by getting to know people online, it will be easier to chat with confidence and set your personal boundaries.
Join An Online Community
Online communities are perfect for introverts who may not want to socialise face-to-face. Joining an online community means you aren’t limited to spending time with the people in your own area. The internet opens up a global network to you so you can find like-minded people easily.
Talking to people online is a great way to build up conversational skills. This takes time and practice and the online community offers a safe space to do it. It’s also ideal for anyone who prefers to have written conversations, instead of verbal conversations.
Netflix Party
Netflix is a great place to share interests with friends. You can connect with friends and family on Netflix and even watch the same thing, at the same time. This means you can strengthen your friendships, whether your friends are sitting right next to you or miles away.
Look at how to watch Netflix together to learn about setting up group watches. This way, you’ll never have to worry about missing out on an episode or the group conversation that follows.
Play Online Games
If you’re someone who enjoys playing games, online gaming is a great way to connect with people online. It can help you to stay connected with people you already know or meet others who like playing the same games as you. Many online games offer multiplayer options so you can get to know people as you play.
It doesn’t have to be console games if you don’t like the idea of entering imaginary worlds. You can play games like chess, scrabble, and many others.
Navigate Context
It’s not always easy to navigate context when talking to someone online. It’s easy to misconstrue something someone says and take offense. It’s important to remember that things like sarcasm aren’t easy to pick up when talking online.
Remain patient as you learn to talk to others but use your common sense when building friendships too. If someone is treating you poorly, there’s a lot more people to talk to online.
Be Yourself
It can be easier to be yourself online than it is in person. However, many people still fall into the trap of saying something they don’t mean or lying to impress. Be true to yourself no matter where and when you choose to make friends.
If you falsify who you are online and decide to meet friends in person at a later date, they may quickly find that you haven’t been yourself. This can lead them to believe that you’ve intentionally lied and tricked them.
Meet In Person
Now that you’ve established some strong friendships online, you may want to take the leap and meet in person. This is a great way to continue strengthening friendships by bringing them into the real world. It’s perfectly normal to feel nervous about meeting someone for the first time, even when you’ve been talking for months.
Remember that some people find that the friendship changes when they meet in person and prefer to keep the friendship exclusively online. However, it’s worth exploring the possibility of evolving the friendship to face-to-face meetings.
Staying Safe
Even when you talk to friends online, it’s easy to become vulnerable. Make sure you know exactly who you’re talking to and never give personal details to strangers. Never send anyone any money or give them your address. If you decide to meet in person, meet in a public place until you’ve established trust.
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