The future of friendship

When I was little, I thought the coolest thing in the world were those nifty "video phones" they had on The Jetsons. I remember thinking, what an incredibly far-fetched idea. Of course I was unaware that there was a technological time-bomb happening right under my nose. With the turn of the century, some of my naivety disappeared but even today I am still in awe of how technology allows us to communicate with each other. I can't think of anyone who doesn't have at least a cell phone, a Facebook account or some type of instant messaging service.

A good friend of mine recently deleted her Facebook account and decided to stop using MSN Messenger. It proved to be scandalous. How was she supposed to make plans, write inside jokes on people walls, and keep in touch with friends she’s met only once? As much as we hate to admit it, we now seem to rely on social networks such as Facebook to maintain "good friendships". But consider the fact that we never required technology to keep in touch up until recently – people actually made an effort to get together and do things. 

Valdis Krebs, social network analyst, thinks communication networks such as Facebook will not persevere simply because it is such an artificial method of communication. He says, "[Facebook] does make [communication] easier, but also in some ways, it makes it a little harder"   

It's so easy to talk to friends these days, but how personal is it? I mean, is it really interpersonal communication?  

Understanding Human Communication claims that people are indeed spending much less time talking to family and friends in person and are using the internet to communicate instead (Adler 209). It's really hard to believe how much of our relationships we base on such an abstract form of interacting. Although we actually seemed to have created our own netiquette, can it ever replace the sincerity of our face-to-face relationships? 

Back to the Jetsons... I suppose it's cool to think that my love for video-phones has come true. Software like Skype lets everyone talk for free, which can be really great for keeping in touch with family and friends that are long distance (phoning home from university..?). But I don't know if seeing your best bud over a webcam constitutes as "keeping in ☞touch☜". 

Maybe I will delete my Facebook account as well, so it doesn't become a serious dependence or addiction. In my opinion, it seems to be hindering relationships, not helping them... why spend time being part of social networks online when the biggest and most satisfying social network is *drumroll please,* the real world?  

I will end with another point from Valdis Krebs that pretty much sums it up:

"...[social] networks existed 50 years ago, we just didn't realize their importance at the time - and we also didn't have effective ways of dealing with them - we've been unearthing them, and now mapping and measuring them because we didn't have the computer power to do that then."

Adler, Ronald B., George Rodman, and Alexandre Sevigny. Understanding Human Communication. Canada:Oxford University Press, 2008.