Friendship and Facebook
Lauren Smith
English 101
Miss Erhardt
12/4/12
Friendship and Facebook Facebook started out as a simple social networking site, and has now grown to be one of the biggest companies in the world. One would typically join the site to be social with others, but it seems like it is almost distancing people from one another. Facebook users tend to have hundreds of friends, but how many of those can actually be considered real friends? The meaning of friendship seems to be forgotten when it comes to Facebook. Facebook is affecting friendship in society today because people use it too much, have too many “friends”, and do not put as much effort in to their “real life” friends. The idea of Facebook seems like it would be a great way to maintain social relationships, but because people are using it so much it is actually isolating them more than anything. If Facebook was used in moderation, it would probably bring people a lot closer than it does now. Many of the millions of people that have a Facebook tend to check their page multiple times a day. It has become a new addiction for people, and for some, a very serious addiction. Many people today can spend countless hours accessing the site, even when they are out in public! When out in a social situation, take a look around the room and notice how many people are glued to their phones. It’s absolutely absurd. Before the use of smartphones and Facebook, people actually socialized with one another when they were together. Now it seems like people are letting it take over their lives, and not looking around to see what’s going on right in front of them in the real world. Friends don’t spend as much time together because they are too busy tagging each other, or looking at the other’s comments or pictures. If people used Facebook less, it would have a more positive effect on friendship. Most people in the world do not have hundreds or even thousands of friends, but on Facebook that is the norm. It has almost become
English 101
Miss Erhardt
12/4/12
Friendship and Facebook Facebook started out as a simple social networking site, and has now grown to be one of the biggest companies in the world. One would typically join the site to be social with others, but it seems like it is almost distancing people from one another. Facebook users tend to have hundreds of friends, but how many of those can actually be considered real friends? The meaning of friendship seems to be forgotten when it comes to Facebook. Facebook is affecting friendship in society today because people use it too much, have too many “friends”, and do not put as much effort in to their “real life” friends. The idea of Facebook seems like it would be a great way to maintain social relationships, but because people are using it so much it is actually isolating them more than anything. If Facebook was used in moderation, it would probably bring people a lot closer than it does now. Many of the millions of people that have a Facebook tend to check their page multiple times a day. It has become a new addiction for people, and for some, a very serious addiction. Many people today can spend countless hours accessing the site, even when they are out in public! When out in a social situation, take a look around the room and notice how many people are glued to their phones. It’s absolutely absurd. Before the use of smartphones and Facebook, people actually socialized with one another when they were together. Now it seems like people are letting it take over their lives, and not looking around to see what’s going on right in front of them in the real world. Friends don’t spend as much time together because they are too busy tagging each other, or looking at the other’s comments or pictures. If people used Facebook less, it would have a more positive effect on friendship. Most people in the world do not have hundreds or even thousands of friends, but on Facebook that is the norm. It has almost become
Cited: Dempsey, Amy. Toronto, Star. “5000: Maximum Number of Friends Allowed on Facebook 1578: Number of Crystal Kapteyn’s Facebook Friends150: Meaningful Friendships Humans Can Handle15: Number if Bestfriends5: Intimate Friends.” Toronto Star (Canada) n.d.: Newspaper Source. Web. 6 December 2012. Junghyun, Kim, and Lee Jong-Eun Roselyn. “The Facebook Paths To Happiness: Effects of the Number of Facbook Friends and Self-Presentation on Subjective Well-being.” Cyberpyschology, Behavior & Social Networking 14.6 (2011): 359-364. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.