Intercultural Relationships Strengthened by the Internet

Over the past three months I have taken the time to explore relationships over the internet through various websites. The website where I did more cross-cultural relationship building was on myspace. Here is where I was able to comment on the various posts of a teenage girl starting her first year of high school and we began to build and pick up on a relationship where we left over a year ago.
It began with a simple posting of pictures on her space. Having remembered the young lady she was just last year a bubbly teenager, with a feisty spirit and punk rocker identity it amazed me to see her in a dress for her high school homecoming. It was interesting to see her grow up in such a short period of time and look more like a young woman than the girl she was just last year.
I began commenting on her pictures and updates and we began to talk about the newest addition to my family by way of the baby growing in my belly. Her mom was having her coordinate my baby shower so it was an effective means of communication for the both of us. I was able to talk about my fears, joys and excitements of having this baby while getting more information on how she was doing her first year of high school.
If it weren’t for the internet there would have been no sharing in this manner. There would not be a sense of bonding that we shared by way of these conversations we had via myspace mail. I am not really a big phone person all the time. I talk when I want to talk, but sending a message and receiving one back is a little bit easier for me in order for me to keep lines of communication open with someone that I would probably not ever have sat down to have a phone conversation with.
I was most often at home when I had my conversations and that did not effect what was being said. It is more so the method of being able to communicate that matters most. I could have been on the bus, which is the case most days these days, because of no longer having a laptop at home. I could have been sitting in a classroom waiting for a professor to come in. The conversation would have taken the twists and turns it did no matter what.
I believe this medium had the effect of breaking down walls and age barriers. While there may have been no reason for me to call this young girl sending a message commenting on her pictures got a good conversation flowing.
In many ways the effect of our being able to communicate in this way was that we were able to bridge a generational gap. I could understand some of the things she told me she was dealing with in her first year of high school. I could offer my advice about her dating so soon exclusively. We could share laughs about how big my belly and other parts of my body have grown since having gotten pregnant. Because of our conversations shared over the internet there was no reason for me to think her comments stemmed from disrespect, it was just a familiarity that I had allowed in my conversations with her which I of course thought nothing of because when young ones feel comfortable with an older person it may very well help keep them out of a dangerous situation because they know there is someone they can talk to if they feel uncomfortable talking to their parents.
I enjoyed this process of using the internet for social networking. I have opened doors, and created relationships I would have never thought I would have created and now have resources in which to keep the relationships flowing.