Are internet friends better than real life friends?

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RL.

Internet friends disappear the moment you logoff. Obviously RL.

I've had so many online friends that are still friends to this day, and have been since I started using the internet when I was 10. That's not quite true for real-life friends. It's hard for me to keep the same group of friends for more than a year-- the same unfortunate thing goes for jobs/volunteer positions.

Interaction between humans has yet to be emulated sufficiently through electronic means. The internet allows us to get one step closer to that person millions of miles away. But, there is a disconnect, a piece of the puzzle missing. What is it? Physical contact. The sound of a lover's whisper in the dark on a cool autumn night. A sweet caress when none was expected.

I'll admit some of my internet friends are awesome. I'll also admit that I would love to move our interaction to the real world, rather than having our feelings filtered through a binary communication system. Alas, it has yet to be, or may never be.

Well I havent had that much experiance with internet friends. I say I really dont know. Im finding when I keep in contact with someone virtually as long as there willing to continue talking to me, nothing really goes wrong. When it comes to dealing with the real life aspect of people and other people, things can mess up. Thats the plus side. The plus side for real life friends, are they're actually there, theres a presence to them but I can mess things up more easily. Well I cant say much rite now cause Ive only had less then a months experiance with internet friends.

I only have a few real life friends, but I have plenty of friends online. It's alot harder for me to talk in real life, because of the typical AS crap. Chatting online seems to be easier for me, but I still stim alot while I'm talking to people on the computer. I guess that's a great thing about having online friends, they don't see those kind of "wierd" behaviors, and I don't have to deal with them trying to figure it out

internet but haha

real friends are needed too

real life..

For me it would probably be Internet friends. I have an easier time communicating online rather than in real life, and it would be easier for me to make friends online.

same....internet friends, its so much easyer to comminicate via a pc, i have no real life friends anyway.

It's already been said, but yeah communicating this way gives me a chance to review and organize my thoughts much better.

I prefer real life friends. Just because I'm on the autistic spectrum doesn't mean that I don't like contact with other people.

While I've had my share of fall outs with both internet friends and offline friends, I still prefer online friends. I find that offline relationships are very hard to maintain for me for anymore then a year and usually in that time I either fall out with that person or they fall out with me. When I was a kid making and keeping friends was a lot easier because I guess I did see the same people everyday.

Nowadays my human interaction rate is fairly low so meeting people is not easy and most people are too busy with work and school(and by the time they're my age relationships and possible children) to maintain any outside relationships. Even in most cases people meet significant others on the job or school and the like so it does make sense.

Online friends are a lot easier to maintain because whether you communicate everyday either way you still get around to speaking/typing to that person almost like a pen pal of some sort. Though nowadays with skype, discord, and other instant messenger type things you really don't have to wait on an email or private message to get your talk to your friend online.

Long story short, I got people I've been knowing for over a decade online, where as in real life I can't maintain anything for anymore then a year ...

I never had many friends offline but there were times I had a lot of online friends. I had an easier time relating to my online friends & being accepted by them but there's LOTS of people online that don't like me. I also find I have an easier time expressing myself to people online than offline. That said I did get lonely for friends offline partly because I like the idea of hanging out & doing stuff together occasionally besides just chatting & playing online games. I met both my exes & current girlfriend online & I became a couple with all of them a while before we met offline. I got really lonely to be with them offline before we 1st met & before other meetups & I think they felt the same way. Me & my current girlfriend are aLOT happier & better off living together than we were online dating. I cant say which type of friends is better cuz it varies & depends the people I'm in a friendship with & if what we want out of the friendship.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both. I talk to my internet friends more often, but they all live far away, so I've never met them or been able to see them in person. I love my real life friends, but they all are usually busy with other friends and family stuff, so I don't get to see them a lot either.

Internet friends are good for first steps, and tend to be out of a much larger pool of people who are similar to you.
Real life friends are what i percieve as high cost | high risk | high reward.
Looking for genuine friends btw.