The other day, I had a hard time tagging 25 people on Facebook for the '25 random things about me' post. Once tagged, the post requires you to write your own post and then tag 25 people in your friends' list including the person who tagged you. I must confess I had a hard time selecting the 24 people despite boasting of 160 friends.
School friends, childhood friends, college friends, friends from work, Toastmasters friends, family...they are all there. Yet, I had trouble tagging 15% of my friends list . While I personally know all 160, I did not want to share some random facts about myself with them. As I browsed through the list, I wondered how many of them can really be called friends. As per dictionary.com a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard or a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter. Going by these definitions, there hasn't really been an exchange of affection or patronage with most of my 'friends'. I haven't interacted with most of them since we added each other.
So, should I call them friends, acquaintances or associate? Does seeing photos, reading/commenting on status messages, poking, wall posts make friends? Which are your most memorable times spent with friends? Hanging out with them, pulling each other's leg, laughing your head off over a cup of coffee or Facebooking/Orkutting them? Do you remember the birthday when your buddies showed up with warm smiles on their faces and wished you with a hug or the one line ' Happy Birthday! Have a Blast!' wall post?
Facebook is a great way to extend that face-to-face interaction and be more involved in another person's life. It has also connected me to some long lost friends. But unless I make the effort to interact with them personally, I will not be able to form that long lasting bond. Which is what happened to most of those 160 friends on my list. I do know them from work, school, college or other activities but I have had different levels of interaction with them none of which are affectionate or patronizing.
In conclusion, I would say that social networking is a good way to extend that personal connection but not sustainable in itself.
School friends, childhood friends, college friends, friends from work, Toastmasters friends, family...they are all there. Yet, I had trouble tagging 15% of my friends list . While I personally know all 160, I did not want to share some random facts about myself with them. As I browsed through the list, I wondered how many of them can really be called friends. As per dictionary.com a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard or a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter. Going by these definitions, there hasn't really been an exchange of affection or patronage with most of my 'friends'. I haven't interacted with most of them since we added each other.
So, should I call them friends, acquaintances or associate? Does seeing photos, reading/commenting on status messages, poking, wall posts make friends? Which are your most memorable times spent with friends? Hanging out with them, pulling each other's leg, laughing your head off over a cup of coffee or Facebooking/Orkutting them? Do you remember the birthday when your buddies showed up with warm smiles on their faces and wished you with a hug or the one line ' Happy Birthday! Have a Blast!' wall post?
Facebook is a great way to extend that face-to-face interaction and be more involved in another person's life. It has also connected me to some long lost friends. But unless I make the effort to interact with them personally, I will not be able to form that long lasting bond. Which is what happened to most of those 160 friends on my list. I do know them from work, school, college or other activities but I have had different levels of interaction with them none of which are affectionate or patronizing.
In conclusion, I would say that social networking is a good way to extend that personal connection but not sustainable in itself.
Agreed with all these external links(orkut,facebook) as a substitute...but nothing comes close as a warm hug from a friend!! who really means friendship with no adjectives added to it...wish time ran a bit slower...for human kind to find meaning in relationships!!! ask God for 26 hrs a day?
ReplyDeletewould that suffice!!!
So very true. Most of the people that we have on our friend lists, can't be called friends. People change with time. Its important to meet friends.
ReplyDelete