I lied to my online best friend, should I tell him my real age?
My online best friend is now 16, I am 15. We met 2 years ago I was 13 then but I lied to him and said I was 15 at the time. A couple of months after we started talking I told him I was 14 (whilst I still was 13), he didn’t react badly at all and believed me. Now our relationship has developed a lot, I can’t lie to him for any longer. If I tell him my age, I expect him to react differently to last time as it would now be the second time lying about the same thing.Should I tell the truth and risk our friendship or carry on lying so I don’t lose him?
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Kids! Tell him the truth, now. Don’t make it worse – don’t let it fester.
He’s going to react in some way. Maybe no big deal, maybe yes, But it’s out of your control anyway.
“oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”
Now is the time to come clean.
Yes. Because honesty is always the best policy.
A good rule of thumb for life is to never lie. Ever.
You don’t have online friends. That’s not a thing. Online acquaintances at best. And I agree, never lie but those ages don’t matter.
No big deal. Dont even mention it unless it comes up in the conversation.
Come clean. It may be hard, but find a way to do it. You will feel a weight lifted when you do.
There are two reasons for telling the truth.
1. Why hide it? It’s a friend. Explain why you felt the need to hide your real age. The two of you have built up a relationship. As wrong as it was, hopefully the friend will understand.
2. Should the friendship progress into something more intimate, be it in person or online, it could put the elder at risk for legal action if the younger is still a minor, even if agreed upon.
You can continue to live out the lie. If you are really friends, it’s worth confessing. Why should it matter?
Why do you feel he’d react negatively over the fact that you’re actually 15?
Be honest, also I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you to be careful about online relationships. There are many predators who are experts in deceiving/grooming underage victims. According to the FBI thousands of kids per year are victims of online predators. Every single one of them believed the person they were interacting with couldn’t possibly be a predator. Be safe and best wishes to you.
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