Foreverandalwaysxo Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 Yes. My best friend met a guy online, they skyped and talked for a year. She was in love with him. They finally met and now she moved across the country to be with him. They are engaged and bought a house
Feelin Frisky Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 You can be deeply in love with the image or belief that they represent to you. But that is true even in the presence of the actual person. We all develop feelings for someone and it's pretty normal to have those feelings start taking you over because they feel so good--like this is that person you've been hoping for all your life and they are finally here (or there if it's an LDR) and everything is going to be different and happy. But--not most of the time, but ALL of the time--that feeling is "want" of fulfillment of a dream and not love for the reality of who this person is. Reality sets in eventually and sometimes love can adapt and endure and other times there is a huge let-down that it can't work and sadness and self-recrimination for letting yourself get carried away. 1
Veronica2025 Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 Yes. I met a guy 7 years ago online. I would message him everyday and he would always respond. We were only friends who met through a forum. We were able to be ourselves with each other because what we disclosed didn't matter because of distance. I would talk about guys I liked and vice versa, small town life, and etc. We still have a bond. I love that guy. We never had a romantic love but it was a great relationship.
Maleficent Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 sure. Then you meet the person and the physical attraction isn't there. Bummer.
daisybuchanan55 Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 Yes, absolutely. I've been in love with someone I met once and then had an online relationship with for over six months. I actually think it's scarily easy to fall in love online because distance makes it impossible for sex/physical things to complicate the relationship. You fall in love with someone's mind. I also think these sorts of things can be really intense because when all you're doing is talking, you're learning way more in a way faster period of time than you would in real life. In an online relationship you'll talk about everything under the sun...discuss opinions you never knew you had...it's actually really cool to get to know someone this way. But be forewarned. Even though I learned a lot about myself in this relationship, it was disastrous in the end for several reasons. 1. Online/on Skype you can choose to "hide" the undesirable parts of yourself. You're missing all physical interaction and therefore can appear more "perfect" and vice versa. 2. Eventually you will have to move or the other person will. You can't go on like that forever. If neither of you wants to, or worse, you find out a year in that you're not as important to the other person as you thought you were, you could be in for major heartbreak. 3. In the end, it's not a real relationship. It's a facade of a relationship. Real relationships have to take place in person. Period. If you can avoid getting into a Skype relationship, DO. I feel like most of them end in extreme heartbreak.
carhill Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 Can you love someone you've never physically met? What do you think? As there are levels of love, the verb, IMO it's possible to have love for a person with whom one has had contact, especially long-term, but no in-person interaction. IME, having had numerous long-distance friends and some long-distance lovers, I've certainly felt love for some prior to meeting in person, as evidenced by the physical affection and interaction we experienced upon meeting. However, for myself anyway, 'in-love', as in romantic type love and bonding, requires time and in-person interaction, so in that way I have not yet felt such love for someone I haven't met.
gaius Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 It's just an emotion, and emotions follow no logic whatsoever, so of course you can. It's as valid as anyone's love. 1
Feelin Frisky Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 I never thought so. But it didn't stop m from feeling like it. But I don't think some of the respondents on this thread make the distinction between loving someone else and loving the person one believes and wants them to be. You can only tell yourself what you want to think in the absence of the real person. You can appreciate having their attention and appearance of affection in those little snippets that technology allows. No being able to have them builds a want--and it's the want that we're in love with because it takes us over and gives us reason for hope. But all that is part of one's own feeling about something they can't know. I love the feeling myself. I'm not here to drown anyone's party. But love is still wanting someone after you've had them. And if you've never had them, you can only be intoxicated with the dream you have of what they seem like or what you hope they are like. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way about a stranger except forgetting that you are in love with what they mean and not who they are. 1
Leigh 87 Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 Simply put, no: true romantic love can only be realised when two people have the reality and security of being in each others presence. I think you can develop romantic feelings online, but the security and certainly of being physically together will push the "falling IN love" stage to happen. Innately, I need a sense of security from a person before I feel completely IN love with them. I do not feel certain or safe enough with a man that I cannot be physically together with.
Author Liquinn Posted June 2, 2013 Author Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Yes, absolutely. I've been in love with someone I met once and then had an online relationship with for over six months. I actually think it's scarily easy to fall in love online because distance makes it impossible for sex/physical things to complicate the relationship. You fall in love with someone's mind. I also think these sorts of things can be really intense because when all you're doing is talking, you're learning way more in a way faster period of time than you would in real life. In an online relationship you'll talk about everything under the sun...discuss opinions you never knew you had...it's actually really cool to get to know someone this way. But be forewarned. Even though I learned a lot about myself in this relationship, it was disastrous in the end for several reasons. 1. Online/on Skype you can choose to "hide" the undesirable parts of yourself. You're missing all physical interaction and therefore can appear more "perfect" and vice versa. 2. Eventually you will have to move or the other person will. You can't go on like that forever. If neither of you wants to, or worse, you find out a year in that you're not as important to the other person as you thought you were, you could be in for major heartbreak. 3. In the end, it's not a real relationship. It's a facade of a relationship. Real relationships have to take place in person. Period. If you can avoid getting into a Skype relationship, DO. I feel like most of them end in extreme heartbreak. Yeah, in the past I've spoke to girls online and then met them in person...and it's totally different for some reason and nothing comes of it (and I'm lucky if I see them again). Speaking to someone online/the phone and meeting them in person are totally different things imo. Three different "perceptions" of the person; It's as though when you meet someone online you're meeting the person for a second time, thoughts? Know what I mean? Edited June 2, 2013 by Liquinn
emmalynro Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 No. You can love what you know of them, you can love the image of them you have in your head, but you can't truly love someone you haven't met. I agree with the above poster that meeting someone offline really is like meeting them again a second time. There's a vast difference in the way we present ourselves to others and how we really are. Perhaps you meet this dream guy and it turns out that sometimes he will embarrass, upset or disappoint you. He might never turn the light off in the bathroom no matter how many times you ask. He may have the worst gas imaginable after eating asparagus. True love is knowing all these things and adoring him anyways.
Author Liquinn Posted June 2, 2013 Author Posted June 2, 2013 No. You can love what you know of them, you can love the image of them you have in your head, but you can't truly love someone you haven't met. I agree with the above poster that meeting someone offline really is like meeting them again a second time. There's a vast difference in the way we present ourselves to others and how we really are. Perhaps you meet this dream guy and it turns out that sometimes he will embarrass, upset or disappoint you. He might never turn the light off in the bathroom no matter how many times you ask. He may have the worst gas imaginable after eating asparagus. True love is knowing all these things and adoring him anyways. Hmmmm.. what about online dating? Well, I guess anyone would be silly to love someone you've never met and true. ^_^
soccerrprp Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 Hmmmm.. what about online dating? Well, I guess anyone would be silly to love someone you've never met and true. ^_^ The answer to your question is YES. It can and has and does. Of course, you are in love with the idea of that person and with pics that may or may come along with the letter or emails. And when you finally, meet, the adventure begins. OLD, you still meet and then eventually date to get to know one another, so not the same.
Emilia Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 I think you wouldn't know until you met the person whether you loved them or the idea of them. Part of it has to be a fantasy.
Emilia Posted June 2, 2013 Posted June 2, 2013 But love is still wanting someone after you've had them. And if you've never had them, you can only be intoxicated with the dream you have of what they seem like or what you hope they are like. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way about a stranger except forgetting that you are in love with what they mean and not who they are. Yes I think this describes what I believe perfectly.
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