We have stepped into a modern world where technology provides for a seemingly endless amount of new and exciting experiences. There seems to be no end to what technology can provide. Sometimes it can be a little scary—these adjustments. But they also can allow for some of the greatest moments in life.

If we think back 20 years ago, it would have been strange to tell someone that your best friend lived across the country and that you’ve never met in person. It wasn’t impossible as pen pals were popular, but it was still rare. However, today, with the technology that has been developed, it is entirely possible to be best friends with someone you met online. My two best friends live across the country from me, and until a few weeks ago, we had never met. To older generations, this seems almost unfathomable. (My grandma was convinced that Meagan and Aly weren’t actually real people.)

This is what it’s like to have virtual best friends.

You Talk All Day, Every Day.

Whether it’s via text, Facebook, Twitter, or some other texting app, you and your virtual BFFs won’t stop talking. If there’s a group of you, you’ll have a group text. Sometimes you’ll be gone for a few hours and come back with 100 unread messages, but it really doesn’t bother you at all. If you all met online, it’s likely that you met through a shared interest, so you’ll always have something to talk about.

FaceTime is the Best Thing. Ever.

You’re always on FaceTime. I mean always. The first thing that skeptics like to ask about online friendships always has to do with appearance.

“But you’ve never seen them? How do you know they are who they say they are?”

It’s a valid question, of course. However, when you FaceTime your cyber buddies, it’s like seeing them in person. FaceTime is seriously the best. I was once on FaceTime with my friend Meagan for eight hours straight.

FaceTime and other video calling apps are a staple in online friendships. It allows for a more normal interaction between you and your friends. There is practically no limit to the things you can do with your friends over FaceTime. Here are some examples of what I’ve done on FaceTime:

• Spend countless hours watching YouTube videos.
  • Hop on FaceTime, pull up YouTube and Facebook messenger and you’re good to go! Just go ahead and shoot the videos you want to watch together into the messenger app, pull up the video and do a countdown to press play. It’s as if you two are sitting in the same room watching the same video together.
• Wash, Rinse, and Repeat
  • No, I don’t shower while on FaceTime, but take that first idea with the YouTube videos and just apply it to all other video media! Watch movies, TV shows and more with your virtual besties.
• Physical Fitness
  • Yep, I’ve worked out with my online besties. It works in the same way that YouTube and TV does, especially if you follow workout videos! It gives you a little bit of incentive, especially if no one else actually wants to work out.
• Cooking
  • My friends will tell you that it’s not a FaceTime session unless I’m in the kitchen cooking something at least once. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched my friends make dinner, or they’ve watched me catch a falling box of Cheez-Its from the screen on their phone.
• Reading/Just Being There
  • Sometimes just the knowledge that someone is there next to you is enough too. These are some of my favorite FaceTime sessions. We don’t have to say a word, but we hang out and we’re there for each other.

The technology we have today makes having long distance friendships so easy. You can feel as if you’ve spent quality time with someone from the other side of a screen. It’s all possible.

Meeting Them For the First Time

After months, sometimes years, of online communication, even with FaceTime and other video calling technology, the thought of meeting online friends in person is both exciting and terrifying. There’s the initial terror, “What if it’s just not the same in person?” “What if they’re not who I thought they were?” There’s all the what ifs.

But after those worries fade away and the plane lands, and for the first time a screen doesn’t come between you and your best friend, the realization hits you. Everything is how it should be. This person whom I’ve never met in person before is here in front of me, and it feels completely and utterly normal. It doesn’t feel like a first meeting, it just feels right. Everything led up to this point, and that’s when you know that a person can feel like home.