The word “friend” is now one of those terms which is flung around loosely especially among the young people. With the rise of different social networking sites such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and other sites, we tend to describe people we add as our ‘friends”. A friend used to be the person with whom we spend quality time with, share our ups and downs, and share our aspirations with. But in this time of great technological advancement, do our online friends equate to real friends? Or are we just left with more Facebook “strangers” than actual buddies?
Many people are now getting frustrated with the ways social networking sites are redefining the concept of friendship. Indeed, it is so easy to become friends on Facebook. With just a click, you can have a new friend even if you don’t remember where and when you have met that person.
Several questions emerge from this situation: How many Facebook friends do you have and how many of them are your real friends? How do you define friendship in this modern age? Does clicking a button establish a long-lasting friendship?
Some people just add contacts and friends without really thinking about the possible consequences of having too many people in their accounts. Some even use their social sites for phlebotomy training classes and popularity purposes, to show their detractors how famous they are and how many people enlist themselves to become their online buddies. Though the real world and the cyber world have become intertwined, there must still be delineation between the two, to keep the people’s sanity and root their feet on the ground.
We can communicate with our friends online and share our experiences with them, but nothing beats the genuine experience of meeting up with your best pals, heading to a café and sipping your favorite drinks together while having a nice and meaningful conversation about anything under the sun. Social interaction is better in the flesh rather than on computer monitors. You can go on living without your cell phone, laptop computer and the Internet, but you can never survive without the love and support of your real friends who will stick with you through thick and thin. The tone of voice, facial expressions, hand gestures—these are the things social networking sites can never deliver to you. An emoticon or a “hello” that pops up on your screen will never equate to the actual smile and pat on the back from a true friend.
