"Social networking site users have more friends and more close friends". Really? I read the the title of that article and was a little apprehensive about that claim. I theorized it came down to the definition of "friend", i.e. Facebook.
The article listed some very interesting facts, such as as Americans having more close friends than they did two years ago and an average user of social networking being half as likely to be socially isolated than someone who was not. "Facebook use seems to support intimacy, rather than undermine it", the article says. The more I thought about it, it actually kind of makes sense.
I've talked about in a previous post how Facebook merely transfers your contacts from the real world onto an online platform. This includes all your friends from high school and college. In both institutions you meet great friends and grow close, but in four years all of you will be most likely going your separate ways, to further schooling or jobs that will take you across the country. You try to talk and keep the friendships alive, but inevitably you end up drifting away.
I know that cell phones and e-mail have been used to past to curb this trend, but Facebook really has made it more convenient than ever to keep up with your friends when they move elsewhere. I have friends who have already left college that I keep in contact with through texting and Facebook, and we remain close and continue making plans for reunions. Facebook's tagline is "stay connected", and it more than fulfills its promise. So really, I have to agree that Facebook actually supports intimacy.
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