Weekend: Friendships.....

I'm writing this post off the top of my head. It is an offshoot of a discussion that is presented from a different perspective on BlogRhet this morning. Take a look if you get the chance.

When I was a kid, friendships had an entirely different significance in our lives. Our friends were the people we shared our lives with, told our stories and experiences to, supported each other, giving each other the sense that there was always someone who would have our backs. We enjoyed together, rejoiced together and shared in each other's life passages. It was a different world. Really. It was.

That practice of friendship seems to have been replaced with a more utilitarian, functional approach to friendship. Friendships are determined by the benefit one might offer to another, whether it meets networking or business goals.

Or maybe I just spent too much time in Los Angeles.

The discussion on BlogRhet poses the question as to whether the Internet has taken the place of deeper friendships.

My opinion is that in the final analysis, the internet might allow us to get momentary satisfaction of our deepest needs.. but it's kind of like a one-night stand. It feels really good at the time ~ but doesn't have sustainability.

Or does it?

Let's speculate for a minute that this is the wave of the future.

Consider it a science fiction exercise. Our friends will be those people with whom we frequently share pixels on these flat screens in front of us. That dimension is it.

Kind of like "Solyent Green", only scarier.

What are the politics of Internet friendships? How do we determine the hierarchy of friendship? If I mail something to you, does that mean you are a better friend? If I call you on the phone, does that imply a higher degree of intimacy? What is the natural progression of friendship? Email to phone to ??? Mailing? Meeting? How is the closeness measured? Or is it?

What are the rules? What are the boundaries?

What does the future look like with this kind of development?

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