Because here there are people who have not the same but similar goals and tasks (learning languages, cultures)....and it's always easier to get on online (I mean on distance) than in real life, because in real life we can be misunderstood......Try to approach to someone in the street to become acquanted. What will you get in reply??????:))))))))))))))))))))))

Not to knowing that person or we never will met them in our real life, makes us confident. Only with a click and u will save yourself... This a World that engages our attention if u find good people to share ideas... Sometimes it compromises our feelings because u can feel on the other side of the screen someone is listening to u carefully and u feel u can have the friend u don't have in real. But one day, u will understand that this is not "real" because real life and people on net are an opposite World...

Thank you all for your comments. Sometimes when I feel the world rumbling 'round inside my head I don't know if it makes any sense or not. I broadly agree with all the various points of view you have raised. I also wonder if another reason might be found within the mechanism of communication itself. When we are face to face with someone we answer each other directly, even interrupting each other to get across our point of view. On sites such as this whilst we are engaged in a correspondence, the delay between sending our reply and receiving an answer provide the opportunity for a series of directed monologues - we can think and write for as long as we want to say what we mean without being interrupted. With the level of noise that surrounds our lives this is actually quite refreshing and calming allowing us to take time in our day to consider and think about an issue, about our thoughts, about our response. And on top of that - at the other end of the world we have a receptive listener. What could be better than than :)

It has often been said that distance can produce beauty. I don’t know whether it is reasonable or not. Maybe it just varies from person to person. Sometimes when you are getting to know someone so familiarly, all you can see is his/ her shortcomings, and then you get angry easily because of their tiny mistakes or bad temper. It’s not difficult for me to say hello to a stranger. But I’m afraid to be disliked or rejected by others. Whatever whether it’s in the real or virtual world, I always treat them with my sincere heart. The internet just offers me a broad platform to meet more different kinds of friends to share our lives and thoughts. Especially when we meet someone like-minded through those websites, it is one of the most wonderful things in the world. :)

I think we all are profoundly social. There is within our self a certain need to express/share our thoughts and we might also need to hear the life's experience of others. I realise it more since I live abroad, far from family& friends. Now...I think those who access such social sites come exactly for this reason around, to communicate. The premise is already there, so it's easy to start a conversation and even easier to let it flow... On the other side, talking to strangers we meet in our daily life may not come so naturally... as we are busy with a hundred of different things, we are not open to chat. In conclusion I'd say that it depends on the mood...we may not be the whole day in the mood to communicate, but when we visit italki/fb/etc.I think we're just in the right mood to do it.