A to Z Quick Chat 89 | Do you believe you can build close relationships with internet friends?

In this Quick Chat episode, Xochitl and Jack discuss whether or not we can build close relationships with internet friends.00:00:01JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast, where Jack and Social take you on a journey from learning the basics to mastering the nuances of the English language. Our podcast is designed for non-native speakers who are looking to improve their English skills in a fun and interactive way. Each episode covers a wide range of topics.00:00:23JackFrom grammar and vocabulary to slang and culture to help you navigate the English speaking world with ease.00:00:31JackWelcome to the ADIZ English podcast. My name is.00:00:34JackJack and I am.00:00:35JackWith here, with my co-host. So.00:00:37JackSo and today we are doing one more quick chat episode and today's quick chat question is do you believe that online friends can be as close as offline friends?00:00:53JackSo. So. So what do you?00:00:54JackThink about that.00:00:56XochitlJack, I think it's very interesting because we grew up in different ages. I basically am part of the generation that's called natives where we grew up alongside technology. So I can't remember a time before computers and Internet.00:01:15XochitlYeah, maybe sometimes I think I remember, like, the dial-up screeching. I'm.00:01:19XochitlNot 100 on.00:01:20XochitlIt I think there were cell phones. I remember there being like Internet and computers when I was a child like even before.00:01:31XochitlThe age of 5.00:01:32XochitlAnd my earliest memories involved technology.00:01:35XochitlBut I also did.00:01:36XochitlGrow up in a time where we still would go and play with the neighbors and stuff like that. I don't know if kids do that as much as as we.00:01:44XochitlUsed to and Jack I think sorry Hun.00:01:46JackTo interrupt.00:01:47JackYou. But yeah, when I was growing up as a.00:01:49JackKid, we literally.00:01:50JackJust ran out of the house in the morning.00:01:53JackAnd our parents didn't know where we were, and there was no way for them to to contact us. Just.00:02:00JackHope they come home.00:02:02JackAnd that was it, you.00:02:03JackKnow, yeah.00:02:04XochitlI still kind of grew up in this because we, like my dad, had a cell phone and stuff, but we didn't have cell phones until we were like 13. I think cell phones were already around, but like, my parents didn't let us have them until we were 13 until I was 13 and my sister was like a little older. I. No, I guess when she turned 13, she got her first.00:02:23XochitlSon. And then I got.00:02:25XochitlAnd my friends 13 but.00:02:30XochitlAs a little kid, like a little little kid under the age of 10. And I would remember waking up in the morning also and running out of the house and I would yell at my mom, I'm going over to Linda's house or whatever and she's like, OK and then we run over to the next door neighbor's.00:02:44XochitlHouse and like.00:02:45XochitlBring the door to talk, I mean.00:02:47XochitlCan you imagine?00:02:48XochitlParents were just so tolerant of this.00:02:50XochitlAnd like either the kid would come out.00:02:52XochitlDirectly or your parents would come.00:02:54XochitlAnd be like, hey, what's?00:02:55XochitlUp and you'd be like.00:02:57XochitlHey, can, like Landon come out and.00:02:59발표자 3OK.00:03:01XochitlBlah blah come out and play. Maggie, come on and play like and then they would come and you would like, run over to the park together or ride your bike to the park and just cause mischief. We got into some good crap, but yeah, that was my experience as well.00:03:17JackOK. Yeah. So our our experiences are not that different. I mean I I never had my first computer till I was 26 years old or 27. So you know, I never really.00:03:30JackUM.00:03:32JackI mean, I had a computer, but I never really had the Internet. Like I I never had access to Internet till I was 26.00:03:37Jack27 so that's.00:03:39JackThat's how old I was when I started using a computer. So what do you what do you think about the online friends thing? So do you feel like you could you can be you can have close relationships with people online?00:03:43XochitlRight.00:03:52XochitlI think in a way like some aspects of of like.00:03:57XochitlPersonal relationships are.00:03:59XochitlCloser and some aspects of online relationships are closer.00:04:02XochitlI feel like when.00:04:04XochitlYou have online friendships because I grew up like in an age where once we were like, allowed to use a computer and stuff.00:04:10XochitlWe would talk to strangers and stuff like being 13 and they're also 13. At least that's what you're hoping about their end. Yes. And I think you feel so comfortable telling people, like, intimate details of your life. Obviously, we were taught about stranger Danger. And you don't tell them, like, where you live or your address or anything.00:04:16JackYeah, no kidding.00:04:30XochitlAnd I never had anyone ask.00:04:32XochitlUM, but you feel so comfortable telling them about like.00:04:39XochitlYour family life and embarrassing things that maybe you wouldn't want to get.00:04:45XochitlOut at school.00:04:47XochitlAnd so I think there's like a certain level of closeness that's hard to replicate in person because it's almost like.00:04:55XochitlIt's really comfortable because there's like no embarrassment and there's no, like fear of judgment. It's like.00:05:01XochitlIt takes down some of the boundaries.00:05:04XochitlWe're getting to know a person in person like relationships, whether they're friendships or romantic relationships or whatever. They tend to develop a lot more slowly, and they're a lot more like boundaries that have to be broken down, not necessarily in a negative way, but just like.00:05:22XochitlPeoples like.00:05:24XochitlYou know, when you initially meet someone, you're going to be a lot less comfortable, and it takes a while. Yeah, it takes a while to break through that and to kind of get to know someone on a deeper.00:05:28JackRight. Their defenses maybe. Yeah.00:05:36XochitlLevel, but there are things.00:05:38XochitlThat, like in person, friends can do for you.00:05:41XochitlThat online friends can't. And while I remember a lot of like my online friends and where I wonder where they are now, I remember this one girl I used to talk to you all the time from like some other.00:05:56XochitlPlace across the world.00:06:00XochitlIt's really different than like your childhood friends that you remember spending time with and that you can still catch up with in person or like.00:06:08XochitlExperiences in person.00:06:11XochitlHanging out with people and having like a good time in person.00:06:13XochitlIs such a.00:06:16XochitlDifferent bonding experience than being online, where it can still feel isolating in some ways.00:06:23XochitlYeah. What do you think?00:06:23JackOK. So it sounds like you're kind of like, you feel like it's it's kind of can be it it's possible like you can have close relationships and?00:06:33XochitlYes, I think it's just it's a different type of relationship. I also think we live in an age where online relationships and friendships can evolve into in person ones, and they often do.00:06:34발표자OK.00:06:44XochitlLike you know, Jack, we, we.00:06:46XochitlAre online friends we've never met and realize.00:06:49JackOhh yeah, that's true. That's right. That's right, yeah.00:06:52XochitlThose guys don't know that and I and it's funny because I kind of forgot that. Did you kind?00:06:56JackRight, right. Because we just get together once a week and record.00:06:56XochitlOf forget that.00:06:58발표자 3Did you?00:07:00JackAnd we we met through the Facebook and you came on our podcast as a guest and then you joined The A-Z English podcast and then you and I've been chatting every, every weekend for months and months.00:07:15XochitlFor the year over year now back I think are coming on New Year. It's so it's very weird because we're online friends and I think that it it can evolve into like an in person friendship as well, they're just like different types of friendship.00:07:18JackIs it?00:07:19JackRight.00:07:32XochitlBut like, it wouldn't be weird at all for me if Jack was visiting Mexico. For me to be like, oh, yeah, stop by my house. You can stay. You can crash at my place like your family can stay at my place. I wouldn't find.00:07:42XochitlIt weird, you know.00:07:43JackLike what? Likewise, you know, it'd be like if you came to to Korea. Of course. We'd have to get together and have a BBQ at our house. And you could meet my wife. And I mean, it's just be it's a no brainer situation, but it's the only thing holding us back is geography. But the thing that allows us to remain friends is technology.00:08:03JackSo it's kind of a, it's just a weird relationship between geography and technology, I think. So to give my opinion, I I think you definitely can be friends with with people online because like you said, we're an example, a living example of that. But I also have never.00:08:23JackReally had online friends before the last, maybe year or so, maybe since like.00:08:30발표자Right.00:08:31JackYou know, since I started teaching and doing the A-Z English podcast and meeting students in our WhatsApp group and then doing the zoom classes, our our free online zoom lessons.00:08:45JackDid I start to get to know the students and they're people that I never would have met because I just never will.00:08:53JackOr I never would have been just walking through Iran or Saudi Arabia or Colombia. Most likely. I mean, there's a chance I could go to those countries, but what is the?00:09:05JackLikelihood that I'm.00:09:05JackGonna meet those students in those countries accidentally. You know, it's just it's it's such a.00:09:10발표자Right.00:09:14JackInfinitesimal chance that we would we would meet that the only way for us really to connect all these people together would be through the use of technology through a zoom application or whatever other platforms. Yeah. Chatting and and.00:09:30XochitlWhatsApp chaps.00:09:35JackYeah. What WhatsApp. Yeah.00:09:38JackSo I they they are, it is a different type of relationship. Someone one of my students said something that was really profound that I I kept thinking about it for a couple days afterwards and she said that online friends is way less stressful. You don't have to go to a coffee shop. You don't have to.00:09:58JackSplit the bill. You don't have to leave your house like the comfort of your own house. So in a way, I I was like.00:10:08JackIt is that. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? And I think that that's I think it's kind of a good thing because I've I frankly don't like leaving.00:10:19JackMy house and.00:10:19JackI I like the the the easiness of of.00:10:23JackContacting, you know, having interaction with students.00:10:29JackSo yeah.00:10:32XochitlYeah, I don't want to speak for everyone, but I do think personally the fact that we've been, we've gotten so comfortable, just like from my own experience, gotten so comfortable with being in our house like all the time and interacting in person with a really small social circle and doing a lot of interactions online and stuff. I honestly do think that's why we have.00:10:53XochitlLike a very much more isolated experience as humans, getting a lot of our social interactions and validations from online sources has led to the loneliness epidemic that we're seeing globally now.00:11:07JackYeah, I think you're right. I mean, I think it it started with COVID like that's that seems to be where a lot of people were stuck inside and they went to online and that's where I did too, because I'd always just had offline relationships mostly. I mean, my whole life, I I was never comfortable, you know, doing the online thing. But now I really enjoy it.00:11:27JackI mean, I really. I'm I I you can meet so many more people. You get to hear about their lives. But I think the one downside is that people can drop out just as quickly as they they come.00:11:39JackYou know, cause all it takes is just. Basically they just turn off their computer and you've you don't know what happened to them. Are they alive? Are they OK? Did they get a new job? Did they move to a new city? And so people can just drop in and drop out. So it's not. It's it's not as deep as like.00:11:59JackAn offline relationship where you're where you've like. You were saying you you broke down those defenses and you've you've met with that person face to face. But I also think that like.00:12:13JackThe online can be if you cultivate those relationships they they can be and as long as the other person is is is answering the phone and putting in the effort then it it can be just the same as an offline relationship so.00:12:28XochitlI think so. I think that's what it comes down to ultimately. So yeah, I agree with you and I'd love for our viewers to let us know if they think online relationships can be as close as in personal relationships or not. Is it also, do you think that like an online relationship is a good starting point to cultivate?00:12:47XochitlAn in person relationship or like immune sustained contact.00:12:51XochitlWith people that you've.00:12:52XochitlMoved apart from physically? Yeah, I'm really curious to know what you guys think. So leave us a comment down below. Make sure to check out our website the A-Z englishpodcast.com Shoot us an e-mail at the AZ [email protected] and join our WhatsApp group and we'll see you guys next.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/a-to-z-quick-chat-89-do-you-believe-you-can-build-close-relationships-with-internet-friends/Social Media:Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. 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