In the past, people generally met in social situations, where they had the opportunity to talk and get to know each other without any background knowledge. But recently it has become more and more common for people to meet online. The Internet offers the opportunity to find people with common interests and ideas, which in turn would allow a bond to form faster and could help the relationship progress. While some people argue that it is not possible to create or sustain real relationships online due to the risk of being deceived, a real connection can be established exclusively through an online relationship because real feelings and emotions can be shared even if people are not physically together. Online relationships, or at least starting relationshipsNicholas Carr, writer on technology and culture, says: “Life is lonely; all connections have value.” Carr is showing that even though a connection can be made online rather than in person, it still has meaning for the people involved. Carr also says in his article: “Only the average spirit would seek to redefine some varieties of…friendship – to assert that some…relationships 'don't matter'.” People involved in online relationships are able to create a connection like that between people who are friends in real life. Feelings and emotions can still be communicated and understood between individuals when they are not physically together, which is why online relationships can be so strong. Alice Marwick, director of the McGannon Center and assistant professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, sums it up by saying that "sharing written accounts cemented and consolidated new acquaintances and romantic relationships..." Marwick talks about his life as a blogger and how the people he met through his blogs became some of his closest friends thanks to the deep connections formed through their writing. When talking about the relationships he still has online, Marwick says, "I feel a genuine closeness and intimacy with them [people still on his blog friends list] based on their words, even though they're written by people I've never met ". It proves that the internet can be a place to make lifelong connections