Thanks for your suggestions, you almost seem like friends. I am actually at the tail end of a very mild depression (which I'm being treated for) which may have warped my perceptions a little, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, psychologists often point out "normal" people see things through rose tinted glasses, they are slightly high and accordingly slightly unrealistic. I too would like to know who said this.

I find the problem with friendship in the real world is it is based on having things in common, being equal, "we seek ourselves in our friends" as my anthropology lecturer said. I don't seek myself in my friends, there is already one too many of me. I too seek out people who are from different walks of life, so I don't think this idiom is really reflective of everyone.

Once there are differences, in ability, finances, etc envy and attacks seem to start. Again, I would have to agree with Mad. One of my best friends was my ex G/F's husband, the complete oposite of me, he was great with cars, I was great with computers, he liked "man" (action) movies, I like scary and romcoms. At different times in our relationship, one of us would be having finacial difficulties, I lent them money, and visa versa, and never once was there any kind of "envy attack".

I wonder if things like facebook are so popular because people seem the same, differences are not visible, we may be projecting ourselves onto them. For me, Facebook is popular because again, I know every single person in my friends list, IRL, at one time or another. I keep in touch with some of my family, and my long time, almost sister, through Facebook. Saying that, I can see your point, and this could very well be a factor in it's popularity.

One difference which is visible on facebook is how many "friends" you have which may be partly why I hate it. There's hardly any other intereaction on the net I don't like. I know people with as few as 10 friends, and some with 100s of friends, I do question the 100s of friends...really, how many people can one know? But, eh...I am not one to judge them. If they want to have 100s of friends, maybe they really do, prolly not tho eh hehe?