Anthony 1Emily AnthonyM. Potts12:30pmArgumentation EssayFinal Draft10 February 2015 An Observation on Online RelationshipsI do not remember the last time I made a friend in the real world. Social networking has played a big part in my life and the relationships I have with people ever since I was a child. I do not interact much with friends in the real world as much as I do on the Internet. The same applies to relationships. I once dated a guy for three and a half years with much of the relationship playing out over social media and technological devices. From my experiences, I would say that online dating interrupts the natural process of developing meaningful connections with people and instead provides more numerous weak relationships. The Internet is everywhere. Often you can find free Wi-Fi at McDonalds or your local coffee shop. The Internet plays a big part in both work and play for a lot of people. I read an article in the Washington Post, which revealed nearly 20 percent of the worlds population log into Facebook once a month (Dewey 2014). Social networking websites have grown to the extent to which they now are a major method of communication between people. With how many people use social networks, it is not surprising people use these sites to meet friends and even possible partners. Since the Internet is readily available, it is easy to instantly contact and make connections with people from all around the world.It was while using Facebook that I noticed how my interactions with people changed. Facebook is a social media platform in which you can add all of your friends from school or work and keep in contact with themeven if you do not know them well in the real world. When I first made a Facebook, I added peers from school. It soon became that I would mostly talk to people on the Internet because it was easier than approaching them in the real world. Even though my best friend and I would sit next to each other in the hour long English class we had together, the majority of our interaction happened online. Seven years latergraduated from the public school systemmy interaction with that friend now only takes place on Facebook. Even though I talk to her regularly, I cannot help but feel that our friendship would be stronger if we spent time together in the real world. As the years have progressed I have begun to rely on the Internet to meet new people. In college, it is not uncommon for me not to know the people sitting around me. I took a history class in my first semester and engaged in behavior that limited my interaction with people: sitting in the very front row, listening intently to lecture, and never turning around to look at the faces behind me. When I make new friends it is usually through a friend of someone I may vaguely know via a social website. On social networking, it is not uncommon to request strangers to be friends. The problem with this is that I often do not have much in common with these people and the result is a large number of acquaintances. In the real world, people probably make friends at events or places that joins people who share common interests. Making friends on the Internet is mostly unpredictable. It is not uncommon for people to misrepresent themselves online. You might have to do a little digging to find a good online friend, but there are still lots of people to choose from. In fact, the only lengthy relationship I have been in was with a guy named Matt who first contacted me online. It began with him sending me a message stating his interest with me. In this message he provided his phone number but I did not make use of it for about a year. When I finally did decide to talk to him, he invited me to a barbeque at his friends house. I declined for fear of what it would be like to face someone who I thought was cute in pictures in real life. I talked to Matt online for a few months prior to meeting in real life. Matt lived 30 minutes away, which was quite the commute for a high school student who had to be in class promptly at 7:25am. I remember we saw each other frequently for about a month but for the most part the relationship played out through little black words on digital screens. In retrospect, I do not know why I expected colorful emotional depth to come out of such a black and white utilitarian method of communication. This went on for about three and a half years. Despite such a lengthy relationship, Matt and I no longer speak. There was not a big emotional breakup. In fact, there were no words. It just happened that one day there was nothing and it stuck. Perhaps this might have happened differently if him and I spent more time in real life. It is possible that we might have grown together from shared experiences. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. The lengthy relationship I had with Matt ended simply from removing the connection between our two screens. In general, the relationships I have that are based online are more numerous and contain less depth than relationships I have based in real life. Despite this fact, I still use the Internet daily and chat with people from all over the world. One of these people is a friend named Spenser from California. Spenser and I met on an online blog. Spenser responded to a post I made. I then looked at his blog and determined we have many mutual interests. Spenser and I communicate mostly through a platform that allows us to chat over video. I plan to meet Spenser someday. Even though he lives far away, it feels like he lives next door. I am unsure of how this friendship will play out, but so far I am hopeful.

BibliographyDewey, Caitlin. Almost as many people use Facebook as live in the entire country of China. Washington Post. 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.