> I don't think my parents take my time spent on RinkChat very seriously.
>
> Many times they have made comments about my "being addicted" to RinkChat.
>
> I just wish I could make them understand that the people I meet here are really my friends.
>
> Who said you can't make a friend over the internet?
>
> Give me one good reason an internet friend is any less valid than a friend made in real life.
>
> Sun"annoyed"dragyn.

They aren't.

My two best friends- Sosiqui and Kelly- are internet friends. I've met Sosi (she lives four hours away from me, in the same state), but Kelly lives cross-country- and if I can raise the money for a plane ticket there, I may be able to meet her next summer.

But I have so many internet friends, and I value them greatly. I can talk to them about anything, whereas I feel like I have on a mask around my "real life" friends. Just because you're using a different mean of communication means nothing.

Want to see them, hear them? Borrow a webcam and a microphone from someone, hook them up, and talk. And watch.

ri "Mom's learned how much internet friends mean to me" a