Monday, March 15, 2010

Friendship Misdefined

I LOVE the internet. I honestly can't imagine my life without it. I see keeping pace with my kids and technology as an enjoyable pastime, rather than yet another parenting task.  Honestly, my day would not be complete without a good cup of coffee, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

Now that I have that established, here's an aside...

My five year old:  "Click on that one!! Click 'add me'!!"

His sister's seven year old friend: "No!!! He's already one of my friends!"

Really?


friend (frend) noun
  1. a person whom one knows well and is fond of; intimate associate; close acquaintance
Why do we call social media contacts (who we've never met in real life) "friends"? Why couldn't we call them "contacts"?  You can still have social on-line interactions with "contacts", and there would be no terminology confusion.

Friend = Janey, known since preschool, taken swimming lessons together, been to all of eachother's birthdays for the past four years, wrote eachother's names a thousand times on "BFF" lists, wore matching clothes to school, swapped hair ties (to name only a few things)

NOT

Friend = strangerwhoyouknownothingabout123


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1 comment:

  1. Totally agree. Before social media my dad use to tell me you don't call everyone you know a friend. an acquaintance maybe but friend is not a term thrown around lightly

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