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Internet friends and the real world

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fatty:
I have a lot of friends online that are 25+. A number of them are 30+ and some are retirement age. It's not that hard to imagine that older people still can interact with people online. They just have a different take on it.

A lot of people I know online have good strong relationships with people online and have even met up with them - on a friends basis. While it is true that older people use the internet more as a utility than a socialising thing, if you look at the number of bloggers around, you'll realise that it is quite acceptable and common for older people to be going into online interaction. Some, in their 30s, probably are still single, once married, or looking, are extremely active socially. A lot of them have IT/Computing backgrounds, but a lot don't.

The relationships Ive formed have been extremely enriching because I feel many older people respect the idea of a friendship in a more formal sense than young people. That is, they apply their approach to real life relationships onto online friendships more than young people do. I tihnk young people have a greater tendency to be brash about anonymity and not caring what people online might think/do. That said,  a lot of older people are still stupid and immature and rude, but those I know are much more cautious/aware of tiptoeing around such things as anonymity.

The other areas I tihnk a lot of older people interact, besides in blogs, is places like Flickr which appeal to a certain interest/hobby and used to be a bit more impersonal. But as it becomes more social, people interact with others of similiar interests in a slightly contrived way.

One of my close friends, who is 65 and retired, recently told me about what blogging has meant for her. 2 years ago when she started, she felt isolated and alone, her husband had died 6months ago and she was looking for a new home. The online friendships and community she created helped her immensely in feeling connected with the world, she has found and renovated her own home, gone on roadtrips with family and become active in herr community and real life friendships.

Not sure what this post is about, but there is my opinion.

Barmymoo:
This has been really helpful, thanks guys :-) Also sorry for getting cross yesterday, I was a little lacking in sleep.

From these answers I've figured there are maybe three different types of internet relationship: real-life friendships with the internet either adding to the real-life connection or replacing it (like when people move away); internet friendships leading to real-life friendships (for example meeting up with internet people regularly, or online dating); and internet friendships which never leave the internet. I know this isn't a new or surprising discovery but it's given me an idea of how I can structure my research.

I don't expect my hypothesis to be right; my dad met his girlfriend through the internet and he's in his late fifties so I've already disproved it anecdotally. But it gives me a starting point. It's interesting to think about blogs as a form of interaction, because I've never really had a blog or been part of a community. I'll have to look into that too.

One last question: any parents (or people with much younger siblings), do you think that pre-teens are now being allowed to use the internet much younger? Most people sixteen or up didn't start using the internet til their teens (obviously the fact that internet wasn't common until the 80s, 90s will have helped) but there seems to be a lot of media focus on how ten, twelve year olds are using social networking.

pwhodges:
On the matter of Internet relationships that never leave the Internet, have you looked into the more immersive social environments such as Second Life? 

I can't decide whether these are another step towards the future, a big flop, or just plain scary.  Many universities are now using Second Life for teaching purposes (mine is currently investigating it), and I know someone who makes money from a business conducted entirely within it, but frankly I find going into Second Life myself for more than a few minutes seriously creepy.

Barmymoo:
I actually hadn't thought of that, Second Life and World of Warcraft are probably the best ones to look at. The idea of using a computer game for business is quite odd, but then again it's probably a lot cheaper than travelling all over the world!

pwhodges:
Second Life even has an embassy in it - Sweden, if I remember right.

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