I understand not wanting to meet people in person. I feel a lot like that as well. For me the dynamics of the relationship change when you meet face to face and the responsibility of the relationship becomes much greater. I don't have the energy or "mental state" to maintain relationships at this point.

Online gives me some securtiy, it illiminates a lot of impromptu behaviour and unexpected events... It feels like I have more control over the relationship online than in real life. And the loss of a friend online is a little less significant for me than the loss of a friend that I see everyday. Another thing that I like is that with online relationships is much easier to ignore those little things that you might not like about someone, you can just imagine something in its place!

All in all, it's easier for me to make and maintain friendships online but I do admit that having only online relationships is not healthy. We are made to physically (and I'm not talking about doing the nasty) experience each other, i.e. seeing someone, touching someone, hearing them etc...

IMHO online romatic relationships are fine, but someday you are going to meet someone really special and then you should make the effort to meet them in person, even if you are scared to do it. Use the internet as a kind of filtering system, but don't limit yourself to this kind of contact because I think you will miss out on a lot...