Over the past several years, there has been a huge explosion of people using social networking sites as well as technology. It’s become commonplace for us as a society to text or email – the days of letter writing are now long gone. Technology has taken the place of more conventional forms of communicating such as writing, calling and even spending time together – many rely on texts or “tweets” to share information. One would almost think that all of these additional methods of communication would bring us closer but in reality these gadgets and sites only serve to keep us further apart.
Technology affects the very quality of the types of friendships that we have. Friends, at least real ones enjoy spending time together. True friends offer warm hugs, vibrant conversation and delightful moments of laughter -these are things that you simply cannot get via email or text. In fact technology actually maintains the illusion of friendship or closeness when it may not even exist.
Most people text, IM or email while doing other things because they are busy. If you really think about it, if they had time to call they would. Friendships are shared moments, and without actually spending any time together is the friendship evolving or growing? Technology is great for keeping in contact with established friends but itcannot take the place of presence and real time reactions. Afterall how many times can you read “LOL” after sharing something with a friend and it have any meaning for you.
After some serious thought, I’ve realized that real time connections are more up my alley. I prefer to hug, talk and laugh with my friends…in person. I’ve seen some of these “friendships” come and go simply because we had never truly bonded as friends. For me, the fantasy simply does not live up to reality; you cannot trust or grow a friendship with someone that you barely know. And although I love technology, I realize that it has it’s place but it can never replace face time.
