Do online relationships work?

Hey you, nice to see you. They can work, but it takes a lot of work, trust, and understanding between the two parties. And a lot of give and take.

Exactly what @Adirondackwannabe said. Both sides have to be honest and want the same result. In most cases one side is not willing to make it work as they are out only for chitchat or casual sex. It is rare, but I do have an immediate family member who succeeded in making it work eventhough it was long distance. Both sides have to make it clear from the start what their motives are. Caution and care are required but it CAN happen.

Not unless you meet within a few weeks, or a month or so at most. Seriously, you HAVE to have face to face, real life, physical relating in a short period of time. Anyone can write flowery prose, words, romance the keyboard, but in my experience I want to actually MEET the person within a month or so at the most. The internet is the perfect platform for wordy romantics that can fall far from grace in reality.

I also have zero desire to drive, fly, miles and miles to make something work. No thanks, not that important to me. haha

On line friendships can work out. Yet you might find them lacking, because the immediacy needed for intimacy between two people is not present.

I reconnected with friend on Facebook 5 years ago who lives a 1,000 miles away. At that time we would exchange messages maybe once very couple months. A couple years later it was once a month, and a year ago once a week.

Her marriage fell apart last January, and we exchanged phone calls and emails and texts a couple times a week, then daily, then five or six times a day, then conversations. But to really make intimacy involved us getting together for a long trip. It had to be in person, so we could see each other’s eyes, see the expression on each other’s faces, see where are eyes were focused. Can’t do that on line.

I think it depends what you want from the relationship. If it’s closeness and the feeling that someone cares about you, then yes. If you’re looking for something long term, that will transcend the online environment, then not unless you meet fairly quickly. So it depends on your long term hopes for the relationship. I know people online that I’ve known for years and years. I’ve never met them. I care about them though. I don’t need more than that from them. If you want real love, you have to meet and the sooner the better because I think we create an impression of the person in our minds which might not be real. So the sooner you can make it real, the better.

Online relationships can work as online relationships, if what you both want is compatible and you both have and keep your online habits that make the communication happen. Also one person can end up starting new real-life relationships… But if you really want a real-life relationship at some point, then you need to transition and meet at some point, and that is a whole other process that is going to run into the reasons why each of you have been only relating on-line, which can involve difficult things like distance, in-person issues, clashes between imagination and reality, deception or omission or mistaken assumptions or imaginations, etc. Things can work out, but there are also many ways it can not work out.

No, they don’t, because they’re not real.

You could be walking a tightrope, haha, online…oh forget it.

No, online relationships don’t work. Mainly because they don’t exist. In order to be in a romantic relationship, you have to have actual contact with the person at some point.

Plenty of people meet online and end up meeting and forming a relationship. I met my husband online (we were 17, but still) and we’ve been together for 7 years. We didn’t have an “online relationship,” though.

The whole “I have a boyfriend/girlfriend that I’ve never actually met” thing is actually pretty sad. If you’re not ready for a real relationship, that’s perfectly fine, but don’t waste your time trying to find a strictly online relationship.

Yes, they can. Right, @Adirondackwannabe ?!

I suppose it depends on what you expect of them.

If the answer is “not much” then I am sure it can work.

If the answer is “equal partnership in the adventure and challenge of our mutual and simultaneous existence” then I bet one could quickly become disappointed.

I was in one for a bit. I’m a really physical person where I HAVE to be able to cuddle and kiss and do stuff with my partner. So yeah, it was really hard. She was like that too. We loved each other and kept trying to meet, but we never could. Yeah, it didn’t work out. Because us both being pretty physical in our relationships and never being able to be with each other. Also, I didn’t tell my parents about it in fear that they would get mad at me for falling in love with someone over the Internet, and with someone who happened to be the same gender as me, so, yeah…

But one of my friends is the complete opposite. She doesn’t like physical contact so she would be fine if it were just her Skyping her loved one. So one could probably work out for her. Maybe.

In my opinion, no, they won’t work unless you actually meet in real life, even if it is just once. But that’s just me. It’s different for all people, I suppose. If you like being touchy and cuddly in your relationship, then yeah, it probably won’t work. But if you’re not, then it might.