Alex Pattakos used Aristotle to explain the value of friendships several times in his article, “The Meaning of Friendship in a Social-Networked World”. Aristotle said that friendship was like “a single soul living in two bodies” (210); a thought that contrasted quite a bit from the movie The Social Network. Pattakos used the popular movie to assess the effect of social media in friendships. He described our lives as now having five-hundred friends, meaning more of a quantity than good quality friendships. Pattakos believes that as a society we have drifted away from friendships and the sense of community. He also believes that we would rather talk to random strangers because as a society we have lost the will to work towards close friendships. …show more content…
Pattakos states that through social media we are, “living alone” (211). I disagree because social media opens the door for the possibility of friendships that would have never been possible before. Before, if a friend were to move away it would be very hard to keep up with them, but now you still have the capability to connect with them. You can also connect with people that you have meet on vacation. Although it is not the same as getting to speak to them face to face, it is still something. They may live in a different state than you so you do not get the opportunity to talk to them often. I think social media is brilliant because it allows you to connect with family and friends all across the world. Life can be really busy and no matter how hard you try sometimes connecting on social media is the only way you …show more content…
Times are changing and the idea of friendship is evolving with it. It is like the old fight, just because it’s new and different doesn’t make it bad. The technology allows us to stay connected with friends that move away, or maybe new friends you met on vacation that don 't live near. Growing up, my mother always told me to be nice to people and treat them with kindness, why has that changed now that we have that capability to be friends with hundreds of people. As a group, people do not react well to change. Anything that seems new or different is automatically labeled as bad. To keep evolving as a species we have to accept change and accept technology, or we will be left behind. The author 's narrow take on social media is not able to keep up with the evolving idea of
Marion Winik’s “What Are Friends For?” expresses the characteristics of friendships and their importance in her existence. Winik begins by stating her theory of how some people can’t contribute as much to a friendship with their characteristic traits, while others can fulfill the friendship. She illustrates the eight friendships she has experienced, categorized as Buddies, Relative Friends, Work Friends, Faraway Friends, Former Friends, Friends You Love to Hate, Hero Friends, and New Friends. In like manner, the friendships that I have experienced agree and contradict with Winik’s categorizations.
In “The Social Networks”, Neal Gabler discusses on the many issues that the invention of television and social media has had on the society nowadays. In his writing, he explains in more detail how television series and social networks have change the way humans interact with other humans, friends, and family members. Gabler points out on how the typical setting for a group of friends is shown in a TV’s show, using examples such as “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, and “Glee”, of how connected all the characters are in a show. He begins by stressing how is very hard to find relationship in the real world like they have in television series. Also, discuss the negative part of how having a lot of friends on social media doesn’t mean anything, he just says
Technology in the world has changed people’s aspirations from creating solid relationships; up until now, to obtain self-respect, it helped to get flattering remarks from a friend, but now someone’s pride relies on the number of favorites they get. He declared that people need to see “how many names they can collect.” He convenes this “friendship lite” because it is not real friendship, just virtual (356). The technology has not just made social media more approachable, but furthermore television
Furthermore, it is thought that social media lets humans connect with others and have more friends than those in the real world. However, this is not always true. People worry about their online worlds and whether people will like them. Online, people are more judgemental than real world friends, which can lead to a low self-esteem. The article “YES: Connecting Virtually Isn’t Like Real-World Bonding” by Larry Rosen states that “...our constant need to check comes from anxiety…” Obviously, technology has a negative effect on people as far as lower self-esteem and
The article “Faux friendship”, written by William Deresiewicz, explains the influence social media has had on the structure of friendship over the years. In the article states, that in this day in age friendships are so common and under looked that we are essentially friends with everyone. Deresiewicz believes that, with the introduction of social media sites such as, face book, my space, and twitter, people seem to value the number of “friends” they have rather than the quality of their few intimate friendships. Deresiewicz explains that, in ancient times friendships were drastically different. He applauds friendships like that of Achilles and Patrodus, David and Jonathan, Virgil Nisus and Euryalus stating that they were unordinary, but universal,
Have you ever made any friends via Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat that you have never met before? I know I have through Twitter due to having the same interests. Some may say those friends are not really your friends, but virtual ones instead. In the article, “The Limits of Friendships,” by Maria Konnikova, she talks about friendships that are made virtually and in reality. The author argues that the use of social media has hindered friendships and face to face connections within one’s social circle, however, she does not address that they have met their closest support group through social media. Face to face connections help identify who one’s true friends are and they are more realistically made when it is in person rather than over social media, but there Konnikova fails to address the fact that social media has allowed many to connect
To be a friend has almost certainly become a role of infinite definition. Agreeing with author Joyce Xinran, after reading her article, “Friending: The Changing Definition of Friendship in the Social Media Era,” the modern idea of a friend has changed in its meaning of intimacy. People have considered no boundaries when allowing one the position of associate. The act of being mildly pleasant will promote even a stranger to the status of friend. To solve this issue people must realize that receiving a simple electronic request to be a friend is hardly mastering the technique of camaraderie.
In this essay I will be talking about friendship and if it is capable to obtain friendship over the internet. I will first talk about Cocking and Matthew and their article Unreal Friends and how they believe friendship cannot be capable over the internet and social media. Secondly I will discuss Briggle and his article Real friends: how the internet can foster friendship and how he thinks that it is very possible for friendship to form online. Then lastly I will talk about my views and how I agree that friendship can take place over the net and how I agree with Cocking and Matthew’s argument.
Pattakos makes use of the film The Social Network about the founding of Facebook as an example of how social media relationships are vastly different than actual human contact relationships. Pattakos talks of the film’s tagline, which states, “you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies,” (Pattakos 210) as he is depicting to the audience that on a social media website, an absurdly high friend count does not necessarily correlate with having as many true friends by the Aristotelian definition. The definition of friendship according to Aristotle is that the importance of true friendship is a determinant of meaningful living. He is arguing that the term “friendship” is used loosely in this online world people tend to live in. The notion of friendship Pattakos subscribes to is being lost as technology continues its exponential growth. Pattakos utilizes the musings of Aristotle to persuade the readers that philosopher’s concepts about the meaning of friendship no longer exist in today’s post-modern world. Aristotle states, “The de...
Social media networks make it very easy to socialize with all of your friends, at once, however how many of those “friends” are authentic? Friends have the ability to be classified into four categorizes: true, convenient, special interest, and historical friends. The meaning of the word friend can vary, however Webster’s definition of a friend is a person who is attached to another by means of affection. A friend can be someone in which your lives have crossed paths. Rebecca McGuire- Sneickus and Nigel Holt contend, “[f]riends are a source of personal enrichment and growth” (12). They go on to explain how the evolutionary anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, states that 150 is the largest number of people whom you can share trust and obligations with- Dunbar’s number (3). This means that all of your 438 friends on Facebook cannot be authentic friends. An authentic friendship involves people who love, care and respect one another.
"We believe that more relationships provide more opportunity." (Source 2). It has gotten into the minds of avid Internet users that the more people you have retweeting you, liking your pictures, or your status, the more social you become. How many of these followers are actually their friends? The more notifications you have on social media does not equal the amount of friends you have. It does not make you social, it just makes you another active user on social media. Receiving notifications does not help you make friends. Even just having a little chat with people online does not mean you are friends. More relationships with people online do not provide any opportunity of creating any real friendships. Friendship are not created by liking someone's status or retweeting someone's picture. ". . . online Americans tend to have 644 ties on average." (Source 1). There is more focus on making connections, than making real friends. A casual conversation does not automatically create a real friendship. Online you can create a larger group of connections, but this does not make you social. The social ties that the internet offers do not create a real bond between people. Social media connections do not help you create a real relationship with another person. More social ties do not mean you are interacting with more people, it just means you have connections with a larger group. I don’t agree with the belief that
Social media is used by many people, young and old around the world as a way to communicate. Our lives have become so busy that it is difficult to maintain family and social relationships. “They use social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. On these sites users create profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research and share thoughts, photos, music, links and more” (Social Networking). With the use of social media you can be friends with all sorts of people without actually seeing or knowing them. “In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families” (Cosmato).
This shows that a benefit of using technology is that we can get closer to the people we know even when they live far away. Technology use through social media doesn’t just benefit us in relationships, it also assists us in social support. Yes you may have friends that can be there for you face-to-face, but not all the time. “We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Social Media as Community)
Before technology, face to face communication was a normal everyday thing and loneliness was a problem that was rarely talked about or experienced. People went about their day without checking their phone every five minutes or so to see if anyone liked the status they posted or feeling lonely when nobody new liked it. In new studies more and more people have feelings of loneliness and depression. However, more people now use social medias such as Facebook, twitter and instagram. While it is true that technology mainly sites such as Facebook can lead to a person feeling alone, it is also true that it depends on how you use the technology, either to your advantage or as a depressant.
There are some downsides to being constantly connected to everybody through social media. The biggest down side is not communicating to loved ones and family through real life interaction, but instead through social media. That is a serious problem to some people, especially those who use technology and are familiar to technology. Because they might not feel the urge to make human interaction, they are just attracted more to technology.