Internet Friends

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By: Johnny Abi Younis

Making friends is easier than ever with all the social media platforms. We all got lectured to not trust people online. They might be dangerous, but a huge number of teenagers don’t listen to their parents, school counselors, teachers and apparently make a lot of internet friends.

My story started with a game. I had met a girl and we found out a lot in common, we then started texting on Instagram. After over a year I found out we both liked Little mix, a girls group. She then added me to a group chat where I met a lot of other fans. Of course, the group chat died after a while, but I never lost touch with four girls from that group chat. My in-person friends didn’t really support me, and people would give me “are you crazy” looks when I tell them I have onlinefriends, and mostly when I was meeting two online friends. Who would’ve thought that a girls band would reunite me with my best friends.

I have made a lot of friends online, and even though I no longer talk to some of them, but these people are amazing and I’m so grateful for having them. It’s like texting your friends, we send memes, we give each other advices and we make jokes. We also have our own inside jokes. We embarrass ourselves and each other. Internet friends are so precious.

But, you should keep in mind that finding good people online doesn’t mean there is no danger. You should be careful with who you trust, you might be talking to a child predator. You can ask for pictures to make sure that the person isn’t a stalker, or you can ask for their friends‘ or family’s profiles.

Having an internet social life is like a real life one, but make sure that wouldn’t lock you in your room all day. You need to live too.