Adaptive Online, Maladaptive Off Line

I started writing this big long essay about how online relationships, whether between people or people and groups, are less firm as a result of the cost of investment. This was brought on by my dropping a number of groups and individuals I read on LJ because I found that they were not longer useful reads for me and reflecting on the fact that I would not be so apt to drop an off line friend or group. This started off when I started trying to be helpful to a person on a group without reflecting on what I was doing. It made me think about what was adaptive behavior in one environment is maladaptive in a different one.

But eventually after my feelings were worked out I found that I did not want to write an essay about this subject. Bloviating at length can be grand fun, but only when I feel like I actually know something. My thinking eventually lead me to believe that I do not have an informed opinion on this subject. Is the internet really like picking out dishes in a sushi boat restaurant where most people don't worry about if they don't like an individual item because there will be something else along soon? Or do most users treat it like an extension of off line situations where work is put into the relationships?