I enjoy being on this forum and on some other online sites. To me, the friends I make online are entirely real people and I care about them. I've had some online friendships that go back 13 years.

That said, I fairly often find myself getting upset about some problems that come up online, usually having to do with me feeling misunderstood or posted to in a not very considerate way (that happened on Facebook this morning; my friend probably didn't intend to be abrupt, but I took it that way and it's haunted me all morning).

Today it occurred to me that maybe I'm investing too much emotionally online. Outside of my family, I don't really have a social life. I facilitate a NAMI support group, a wonderful group of people, but that's not just a "fun social thing".

I'm not really asking for advice for myself. What I'm wondering is if others of you also use the internet for your primary social contacts, and if you do, how is it working for you? Are you okay with having mostly online friends or would you like to have more IRL friends?