Two of my closest friends are people I’ve yet to see in real life.

And I know what you might be thinking. For some, the first thing that comes to mind when I mention having an online friend is one of two things: 1) That we don’t have a real friendship and that we just people who occasionally chat with each other. 2) That for the past five years or so, I’ve been talking to a creep twice my age that spends his time stalking me and trying to rob me blind.

However I, and many other people with online friends, beg to differ. Despite the notions people have about the extent of an internet friendship, these relationships are just as real and valid as one between two people who see each other on a daily basis in real life, and people should start seeing them as such.

There is some debate as to whether or not online friends are “real friends.” Now if you ask ten different people what they consider to be a “real friend,” or a “good friend,” you’re likely to receive ten different answers. However there are some qualities of a friendship that are pretty universal. Loyalty, trust, reliability and compatibility, all of which can be found in any relationship. My online friends, despite them living hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles away from me, are still people I can count on whether I need to cry on a shoulder or laugh until my sides ache.

The same way I can go over to a friends house and hang out with them, I can log into a messaging app and talk with them for hours on end, the same way I would anyone else.

I’d like to state the obvious and say that I don’t think that online relationships are an in way more valuable or better than face-to face ones. I simply believe that the two are equal. There’s no shortage to how often I get a side comment about how much time I spend on line when I should be interacting people, even if what I’m doing online is interaction with someone. Just because I’m on my phone or my laptop does not suddenly make whatever I’m doing less significant.

I love that I can form long lasting friendships with people across the country and across the world that I would have never met had I only tried to form face-to-face relationships. While I truly love the friends I see on a daily basis and wouldn’t trade them for the world. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without the friends I can hop online and talk to as well.

While there are cases in which online relationships cannot be considered a really friendship, that doesn't mean that's the case for all if of them. Studies have shown that online relationships are just as valued as face to face ones. Just as I did with my friends I see on a daily basis, I had to get know them, just as they got to know me. We earned each other's trust, we turned each other for support, we made each other laugh.

In my book a friend is a friend, whether they are in my time zone or not.