My favorite is when you’ve been online friends with someone for 10 years, talk for hours nearly everyday, confide in them, think of them as someone important to you only for them to say “you’re only text on a screen to me” and then ghost you for 2 years after a mild argument.
Yeah, what’s up with that? Is it something about not seeing the person face to face that makes us so prone to opening up in this way? The absence of normal social pretense maybe?
People keep their defenses up more when they have to do “facework”. If you’re not having to make eye contact, it’s easier to speak freely.
Even though it’s rare these days, it’s the reason behind that whole Freudian idea of therapy where the patient lies on the couch and isn’t looking at the clinician.
The weirdest part for me is feeling totally comfortable talking on screen about anything, but then when you think about meeting in person, being worried that you won’t have anything to talk about and it’ll be awkward.
