Making Friends Over The Internet - good or bad?

Sample Argumentative Essay

What is your opinion on making friends over the internet?

 Friends are part of our everyday existence. Be it introverts or extroverts, both are in need of mates and buddies throughout their life and the classical way to have friends is by socializing. Nevertheless, a plethora of people deemed that making friends in real life is hard and therefore opt for online friends. I opine that making friends over the internet does more good than harm. 

 To have an online friend is easy and quick. The process can happen in a matter of seconds as nothing complicated needed to be done beforehand. As the name suggests, only internet connection and social media or related websites are needed. Should a person has low self-esteem, online interactions are undoubtedly favorable as physical appearance is not an issue. 

 A major reason as to why we befriend someone is the number of similarities that we shared together. Social networking sites allow us to study the description of other users and connect with people with the same interests even if they come from a different group of ages and status. These common interests can be the basis for lasting friendships and hence, help in building confidence to interact more fully with people in real life. 

 Contradicting to the claim by opponents that online friends cannot help much during our difficult times, they actually can function better than offline friends. One possible reason is that we tend to share problems that may be embarrassing to admit to those we know in real life. Online friends will also provide encouragement and advice or simply listen and empathize with us which is helpful enough in most times. As a result, a positive force in building solid friendships in real life can be created. 

 Having online friends is unquestionably beneficial. Although we are excited about meeting new people, limits and boundaries should be put to avoid adverse consequences. To ensure we have a healthy friendship, let us be more careful and take precautionary steps whenever needed.

Glossary

Introvert: someone who is shy, quiet, and prefers to spend time alone rather than often being with other people

Extrovert:  an energetic person who enjoys being with other people

Plethora: a very large amount of something, especially a larger amount than you need, want, or can deal with

Deem: to consider or judge something in a particular way

Opt: to make a choice, especially of one thing or possibility instead of others

Self- esteem: belief and confidence in your own ability and value

Adverse: having a negative or harmful effect on something