Reflection About Friendship

I'm sure you have not only heard, but also used the famous phrase "opposites attract." The statement stands true not only in physics and chemistry, but also in relationships and friendships. We tend to be attracted to people with personalities that differ from ours, so life would be more interesting, and desire the opposite of what we have. A perfect example of this, is Sula and Nel, best friends from Toni Morrison's novel, "Sula", where the conventional ideas of good and evil are turned upside down. The two girls are like opposite sides of a magnet, strongly attracted toward one another and useless when split apart. Life puts their friendship to the test by toying with love and sex, life and death, and good and evil, eventually

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

In “The Limits of Friendship” by Maria Konnikova, social media has significantly changed the way we interact with friends and family. Everybody thinks that using social media is the best way to talk to friends and family, however, in my opinion, they are wrong because it doesn’t give you the face-to-face connections we need as humans for social interaction. On the other hand, the great thing about using social media is you can connect with more people, but in a superficial kind of way. Therefore, we do not get the face-to-face interactions with our friends and family. We, the people that are addicted to social media, learn that without face-to-face conversations we wouldn’t have a normal “social” life outside of social media. The question

People of the same social class tend to be friends. People of the same level of attractiveness tend to be drawn to each other. Athletes that play the same sports flock to each other. I feel as if often times, we fall ignorant to the real world. Sometimes, I think we close our minds off to possibilities and opportunities just because we don't expand our network and step out of our comfort zones. Everyone has a story. Growing up and going to a private Catholic school, I’ve seen this happen my whole life. The rich kids are friends with the rich kids, and everybody else just kind of coexists. My mom always told me to not be friends with someone just because you share similarities. I have carried this value on through life. By closing yourself off to one group people, you limit your exposure to different experiences. Through meeting other people and people that are different from yourself, you can expand your

In Sula, Toni Morrison questions what true friendship is by putting Nel Wright and Sula Peace’s friendship to the test. Morrison tests the phrase “opposites attract” in this novel. Nel and Sula have two different personalities yet they are able to compliment each other. They are opposites in the way that they relate to other people, and to the world around them. Nel is rational and balanced; she gets married and gives in to conformity and the town’s expectations. Sula is an irrational and transient character. She follows her immediate passions, completely care free of the feelings other people might have about her. To Nel, Sula’s return to Medallion is like “getting the use of an eye back, having a cataract

The article “Social Media as Community” “We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Keith Hampton) Social media has created amazing apps that let us meet people that are exactly how we are ourselves. They have helped many students get relationships that they thought would never happen. “There is little evidence that social media is responsible for a trend of isolation, or a loss of intimacy and social support.” “Social Networking Sites and Our lives.” On the internet there is little evidence that social media has caused an isolation. The internet has made it where we can talk to people far from here that are just like us and usually people don’t lose friends that are exactly like

The epitome of a Good Life is the strong relationships humans are able to construct over time, but this can be affected by social media. Even though it connects individuals around the globe, social media can have a devastating effect on the establishment of communication in solid relationships. In Robert Waldinger’s “What makes a Good Life,” TED talk, he believes strong relationships are the framework of achieving a good life. Dr. Waldinger debates that the development of inter-social relationships could highly influence our life in a healthy manner, more than wealth and career success could. The need for relationships is seen through: (a) the Harvard Study, and (b) a healthy lifestyle. Clive Thompson’s article, “A Brave New World: I’m so Totally Digitally Close to You,” discusses how social media has revolutionized the way our community interacts. Instead of having one-to-one interaction with someone in person, now with just a “tweet” or “DM” a person easily contacts another person. He argues that the advancements of technology have led to our society developing an endless addiction to

In Life is Friends, Martinet, an author known for her knowledge on the art of mingling, justifies the reason for why connecting with others in person is lost and declares that “All too many people make the mistake of looking for friends who can further their career or their social standing” (Martinet). The public cares too much about their status in society and the way that people view them. Humans attempt to depict themselves in a way that makes them appear “cool” or “fit in” with everyone else. Technology is just one outlet that people constantly use to paint a picture of themselves for the rest of the world to see. While in real life, a person may not even closely resemble their social media profile. Therefore, it is often tricky for those that care about their status to have a natural conversation with others for fear of not portraying themselves accurately. Face to face conversations are also on the decline because people care too much about their social standing and would prefer to only talk to friends that can improve

with the ability to see into the lives of people with whom we are not that close we began to feel as if we know this person more intimately than we really do. This perception of closeness hampers our ability to form true friendships with those around us. For the most part, when interacting on social media we only show the positive aspects of our lives, We hold back on the negatives and our perceived weakness(Bonanno, 2015). In real lives our friends see the good and the bad. These bonds formed through happy and sad emotional exchange with others form the base for the fabric that holds our society together. As we rely more and more on CMC to connect with the people in our lives the depth of our personal relationships become weaker(Keller, 2013, p.

In “Me and My 400 Friends: The Anatomy of College Students’ Facebook Networks, Their Communication Patterns, and Well-Being,” Manago, Taylor, and Greenfield seek to understand if there is a trade-off between large networks of social connections on social networking sites (such as Facebook), and the development of intimacy and support among today’s generation of young adults. Published January 30, 2012 and consisting of 12 pages of research, the study was conducted by online survey distributed to students at a large urban university. Participants answered questions about their relationships by sampling their Facebook contacts while viewing their online profiles. The findings of this study indicate the transformation of the nature of intimacy in the environment of a social network site, while also emphasizing the psychological importance of audience in the Facebook environment. It is suggested that social networking helps young adults satisfy psychosocial needs for permanent social relationships in a geographically mobile world.

Trying to find a good friend is like finding a four-leaf clover; it's hard to find, but lucky to have. The term friendship is a unique bond between two individuals—whether it’s a charming boy and a geeky girl, an elder woman and a young adult, or even between a cat and a dog. Friendship takes no form, instead it is the individual trust toward others. Dating back to the creation of the human species, people were familiar with the idea of companionship, in addition of being a companion, it relies on a sense of comfort and protection. Presently, people still share that bond of comfort and protection toward others, but the term companionship has changed into what is now known today as friendship. The world is currently evolving into a digital era, a generation where everyone and everything are connected by the power of computers, including meeting new people across the world where it’s impossible to meet in person. However, even though it’s easily accessible to make friends online, it can never favor those who live locally. The reason why is because in the digital world, people are highly deceptive and are limited in communication while in comparison to those who lives locally. However, it isn’t wrong to make friends online, even though, some of them are misleading. It’s more suitable to have friends locally as they have better communication efficiency, living proof of actual identity, and as well of physically spending quality time together.

Social media improves the way people communicate with others. It allows them to meet new people. At the click of a button, millions of strangers all over the world who would have never met otherwise are able to connect with each other. Many people believe that internet friends are not as valuable as real life friendships. However with websites like “skype” and instant messaging sites, long distance friendships can be as intimate as real life friendships because social media allows friends to see each other face to face and spend quality time together whenever they want to. Because of this, internet friendships should no longer be considered taboo and should be seen as normal human relationships, “It’s entirely possible to have hundreds of

Imagine your sole confidante, childhood playmate, personal comedian and physiologist disclosing your secrets to a stranger. Unfortunately, this stranger happens to be the person who enforce a form of punishment for the actions that were once a secret. Furthermore, this confidante is considered your friend. Does an instance of this friend disclosing your secret of immoral activities to a person of authority violate the success of the friendship? In fact, this act is not a violation of the laws of friendship. The ideas of friendship are subjective, and thus where you might think your friend’s actions are unjust, your friend is actually looking out for your best interest and security. Also, a good friend would not desire

I had moved every four years of my life from the time I was two years old to fifteen. By the time I had finished elementary school I had developed a less than permanent outlook on how friendship works. You meet someone you like, you get to know them long enough to become close, and then your family moves to a new town, city, state, region of the country; and you start all over again. It wasn’t until tenth grade that I would gain my first “full-time” friend. She liked to read, mostly stayed under the radar, but was known for being very

This article’s title is What Is a True Friend. The author’s name is Elaine S. Dalton. The article belongs to Youth. It tells us we should focus on being a friend rather than having friends. The definition of a friend has changed in today’s technologically connected the world and there are many definitions of what means to be a friend. However, which definition that the author can not agree more with is that Elder Robert D. Hales speak about what it means to be a friend and the powerful influence of friends in our lives. He said “Friends are people who make it easier to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Friends are people those who seek other person’s highest good and make him live better. Then, she used her daughter as an example to show that. A true friend is also the one who will affect those who are with them. Thus, we can see that the Savior called His disciples His friends. A true friend’s spiritual cleaning not only to those people who communicate with them, but also have a permanent effect. Also, as you live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will attract people to you who will want to be your friend. When you try to be a friend of others, let your light shine, your influence will be a blessing to many of you. If you are a good friend in the world, one day you will receive a good promise of true friendship.