What Does Friend Mean Now?

As a young child, if I wanted to communicate with my friends, I would walk over to their house, knock on the door, and speak to them face to face. A concept which now seems unheard of, and maybe even rude to some people. In today's world websites like Facebook have virtually (no pun intended) taken the intimacy and face time out of friendships. (Although there's an app for that) Today, if someone asks me, "Are you friends with them?" my mind immediately goes to thinking if I've added them on Facebook or not. Now, I know I'm not alone in this, because Kahn even states in the reading that the term 'friend' has been Facebooked. Today, the word friend does not carry the same weight, and meaning it did in our grandparents day. Due to online technology, you can be "friends" with someone you've never even met in real life. Does that really constitute true friendship? Can virtual friends give us the same emotional satisfaction and enough human interaction as real, true, flesh and blood friends? That I believe is up to each individual to decide.

Kahn also mentions the NBC hit sitcom "Friends", which he describes as a "cast of young urbanites bound together by proximity and camaraderie" (379). I myself happen to be an avid fan of the show, okay I've seen every episode, twice, so I know that most of the episodes have the six best friends just sitting and talking with one another. This lead me to question what would the show be like had it been on the air today? Would it be sponsored by Verizon, or T-Mobil, how many Iphones would make minutely appearances, and just how many friends would there be? According to the article, we can have about 150 stable relationships, but it breaks down to smaller numbers and closer friendships  "On average we each possess about 50 friends, 15 'good' friends, and a mere 5 that can be categorized as 'intimate'" (380). However recent studies have shown that on average, a typical Facebook user has around 303 friends.

This lead me to take a look at my own profile, and like most anything I do, I try to be a little above average and while most of the time it backfires in this case I am excelling with my 889 friends on Facebook. I've never felt so loved, exposed, intruded on, and a little afraid at the same time. Now even though someone is my Facebook friend, I don't truly consider most of them my friends. Most of the time they probably fall under a title like acquaintance, or co-worker, but being "friends" with them on Facebook is convenient when we need to communicate because in some cases I don't even live in the same state as they do. Which returns us to the main question at hand, what does friend mean now? Like the article states "Real friends require time and effort to get to know" (381). So while the word friend does not mean the same as it did before it was 'Facebook-ed', the concept behind remands still. I think everyone could use a little reminder of what the word friend truly means, or rather, meant, myself included. In today's world it can be so easy to get tied up in the convince of "friendship on demand" (380), with all the changing technology to support it. But if we step away from the keyboards, and power down for just a little while, maybe we could bring back the meaning, and depth behind the word 'friend'. (But there's probably an app for that.)

Works Cited

"18-24-Year-Olds on Facebook Boast an Average of 510 Friends." MarketingCharts. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.

Kahn, Joseph P. "What Does Friend Mean Now." Boston Globe 5 May 2011: n. pag. Print. 

"Toy Story - You've Got a Friend in Me Music." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Aug. 2008. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.