We live in a funny world where the advent of the internet, computers and smart phones have revolutionised the way we interact socially.  It has certainly changed my social life.

I am generally a very homely, private person.  I have a small number of real friends who are dear to me, however we do not socialise as much as we used to say, ten years ago.  I have thought about this often, and I am convinced that modern technology has evolved to the point that we are generally socialising via social networks, Face book, Twitter, Skype and the telephone rather than actually visiting each other. Cable TV and the availability of the latest movies at the click of a button give us easy, cheap entertainment right in our living rooms.

A few questions spring to mind; Do you find that you are making more “e-friends” now?  I am not talking just sending little messages to each other, but developing a little “friendship”.  Do you have any “e-friends?” At what point do we actually become “e-friends?”  How do we cultivate an “e-friendship?  Are we losing the personal touch?  What about the risky element of befriending a “freak” with a facade of an  identity?  One can take on any identity these days, are there any ways to see through that?  Personally, I use my trusty “gut feel” when determining this.  The beauty of e-friendships is that it can be terminated by the click of a button.

I want to read a few takes on this, as I find myself being drawn more and more into the fascinating electronic world. It suits my personality type perfectly and I am already starting to make a few “e-friends” with some people here, who appear sincere and really genuine.

Like Mr.Zed I prefer in person interaction. I think it's a dying social skill in the world and I personally believe that is NOT good.

I have a bunch of "E-Friends"..... a bunch from this Forum. I've met the following SBG's from this Forum in person:

Warhawk
Paulie
Saintc
Fr8Train

These are four GREAT guys. I wish I could have more of an in person friendship with all four of these guys but they all live hundreds of miles away.

I also consider these guys to be E-Friends from the Forum (but I've never met them):

Paul
Schro
Rob6

I'm sure there are a couple of more that I'm forgetting!Sorry!

I met a few others guys in person  too but thay have drifted away over the years.

But far and above, my preference is in person - whether a chance encounter on the street, sharing a few beverages at the pub, or dining in each other's homes. No emoticons can replicate someone's facial expressions, gestures or voice inflections.

I'm old school. And quite happily so. I feel badly for the younger generations because I believe their lives will not have the richness they deserve. Fortunately - or unfortunately - they don't know what they are missing.

FrontierGuy... you have nailed it. Look around at all the young people with no social skills. The number is unbelievable and it will only get worse.

I don't know if "e-friends" is my take on it.  I'm "mature" enough to remember keeping up with friends in the West where I was raised and went to boarding school by snail mail and "expensive" long distance calling.  Snail mail is the part of the "friends" at a distance that has disappeared. 
I have made some good friends here, and been fortunate enough to have met several when they journeyed to Patterson, LA.  I also have some who I've never met, as I had one or two in the snail mail days, friends of friends who became friends. 
I like the convenience of e-mail and text messaging, it keeps me in touch with my extended family on both my Mother's and Father's sides of the family, and it's so easy to share pictures, etc.  But, as watching the John Adams series on HBO on the Fourth while we prepared dinner for our family reminded me--our country was founded on snail mail--really horse drawn, sailing ship snail mail.  The ability to write is essential to the thought process, IMO, and they did it so well. 
I'm also getting totally addicted to my smartphone--all e-mail accounts, personal, business, etc. directed to my device and the ability to answer and even send immediate pictures of what's going on in my life and see pictures of what's happening in real time in theirs is really neat.  I wouldn't ever give it up.  They just upgraded the software on mine yesterday morning and although it took most of the morning to figure a lot out, I now have even more capabilities on the fly than I've ever had.  Now I'm thinking of learning skype to add to the experience since it's part of my phone's capabilities. 
Nice to have friends & the conveniences to keep and make more.  It always reminds me though of the snide comment, "Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate!"

While I definitely think that it is important to keep up face-to-face communication with close friends and family, I do enjoy "time" with my e-friends - most of which are on here . I have yet to meet any of them in person but it would be nice to put an face to an avatar. Also, like Saint said, I too and somewhat addicted to my mobile devices. It is nice to be able to share info, pics, ect, on the fly with friends and family. Especially when it isn't always easy to make time to see them in person as often as I would like.

Like some of the others, I tend to be private and introverted as well as old school with a preference for face to face communication or, at least, hand written letters. Outside of SBG, most of my e-friends are people I went to high school with but lost contact with due to many of us moving to other parts of the country. Facebook has allowed me to re-connect with a lot of them. On the flip side, there are a lot of you here I'd like to meet in person.

Yeah..... we're kind of awesome aren't we??  

Just had dinner pizza, with  Baldjoeg last night.

Nice to meet him face to face

I have made many e-friendships around Australia that have turned into actual close friendships, with one of my friends coming to visit, or I go visit him at least once a year. Many of the others I actually talk with via skype, ventrilo or over the phone on a frequent basis.

As for this site, everyone here are truly a top bunch of blokes and if you weren't on the other side of the globe, I would definitely love to catch up for a brew or a few!