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Colucci, Daniel

Ms. Florence-Martinez

ENG 2B

27 August 2021

The Impact of Social Media on Friendship

Social media changed the way society communicates, consumes information and creates

networks of relationships. It is omnipresent in most people’s lives through applications like Instagram,

Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat and LinkedIn. Its tentacles have reached many aspects of life,

affecting relationships at home, work and play. Friendships are nothing new, but the digital age and

social networks are impacting the way we make friends and relate to each other.

Individuals have a role to play in choosing how they acquire friends and who they choose to be

friends with. The question we will discuss in this paper is whether the digital age with all its

technological advances affects those friendships and the process of making friends. We will do this by

separating the true definition of friendship versus the one common in social media, and will also cover

some of the benefits of friendship during a very difficult period in an adolescent's life.

Ever since humanity was imbued with the divine spark all those millions of years ago, friendships

have been present. The digital age, however, has brought about new considerations in the field of

friendship as it has stretched and challenged the definition of what it means to be a friend and even the

process of acquiring friends. Like anything new, modern technology and its impact on friendship has
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brought some together and driven others apart. As a whole, however, technology has done more good

than harm, especially in the area of friendships.

Everyone would agree that friendships are an essential part of life and that technology is

changing how we connect with others and even how we see friendship itself. Many are concerned that

technology causes friendships to become more distant. Some of this could be partly due to Facebook

(and social media in general) changing the common meaning of the word friend. In fact, what has

become known in social media as ‘friends’ is nothing more than acquaintances. Facebook and other

social media platforms have devalued the term ‘friend.’ For example, below is the content from

Facebook’s Help Centre describing the concept of ‘friending.’

“Friending on Facebook helps you stay connected with people you care about. Adding a friend means you

may see each other’s activity in News Feed, Stories and Photos.

When you want to add a friend on Facebook, keep in mind:

- You should send friend requests to people you know and trust. Add a friend by searching for

them or directly from People You May Know.

- You can control who can friend and follow you by editing your privacy settings.

- If you don’t want someone to see you on Facebook, learn how to unfriend or block them.

- You can have up to 5,000 friends at a time.”

The irony of someone being able to care about 5,000 individuals and call them friends does not

mean that true friendship cannot occur in a digital format. Similarly, someone eliminating a ‘friend’ from
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their life by simply ‘unfriending’ them is not that big of a deal, since these were merely online

acquaintances.

Although the definition of friendship has been devalued, this does not affect true friendships.

Even if the term is applied loosely today, it does not mean that real friendships do not exist.

Furthermore, it certainly does not mean that real friendships cannot be made in this digital age. One

cannot judge online friendships based on a devalued definition popular in social media.

Social media has devalued the term, but friendships are still possible. The two topics must be

separated. For the remainder of this paper, a friend will not be used to mean an in-person or online

acquaintance. Instead, we will consider a friend to be a person with whom one has a mutual

appreciation and liking for.

Having discarded the definition of friendship inherited from social media, we will now look at

whether technology affects friendships positively. Studies indicate that connected teens are even more

likely to connect offline with their online friends than those teens that do not spend as much time

online.

In fact, when taking into account both online and offline interactions, highly connected teens

report more contact with their friends compared with other teens, according to the analysis,

which comes amid concerns that screen time is taking away opportunities for teens and others

to socialize face-to-face. (Jiang)

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The Pew Research Centre’s report quote above shows that online teens and even those teens

they consider ‘terminally online’ do not suffer from a lack of relationships or friendships, instead:

It’s worth noting that regardless of how frequently they use the internet or how many social

media sites they use, teens today are far more likely to maintain frequent contact with their

close friends online than in person.

Additionally, the likelihood of teens having a close friend does not differ by their frequency of

internet use. The vast majority of teens in each group say they have at least one close friend.

And similar shares of teens who are constantly online (53%) and who are online less frequently

(49%) say they tend to fit in pretty easily with other people their age. (Jiang)

From the above, it appears that teens can find and nurture relationships online. Even beyond

making and nurturing relationships, it also appears that those online relationships can prove helpful

during times of need. An interesting example of this is captured during one of the more difficult periods

in a young person’s life: the transition from high school to university. This period in a young person’s life

sees them move from what is usually a comfortable context (home, family, neighbourhood, and

established friendships) to a very new and different environment: university. During this period, as one

could expect, ‘feelings of loneliness are very common and the breadth and depth of a person’s social

capital can help against those feelings. (Thomas et al.)

In fact, the study shows that students who can maintain their connections online to their old friends are

able to combat and reduce the feelings of loneliness.

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Importantly, for students experiencing transition, we also identified that maintained social

capital was associated with reductions in loneliness. Paul and Brier (2001) refer to the term

‘friendsickness’ where students experience negative feelings associated with the disruption to

old friendships in the transition to higher education. Ellison et al (2007) reported that students in

higher education's primary use of social media is to maintain links with old friends and thus

enhance maintained social capital. Here, we demonstrate that the maintenance of social capital

can significantly protect against loneliness experienced in students. [Emphasis mine]

(Thomas et al.)

The move to university is associated with an increase in emotional distance between friends,

which results in poorer mental health. However, online communication stops friendships from growing

apart, but can also be a vehicle for relationships to become stronger and even grow. Distance becomes

less and less of an issue.

In previous paragraphs, we saw how technology can have positive impacts on a person’s

wellbeing by keeping them closer to their friends even when distance separates them. Maintaining

these connections is especially important during life-changing events such as the transition from high

school to university. But technology also allows individuals to form brand-new friendships that were

previously impossible. Stronger bonds can be made with individuals across time zones and geography

because shared interests are so strong. Interests that perhaps others in a person’s local context do not

share. Technology can help people, who might otherwise not have friends, to find others like them. This

cannot be underestimated, as having friends is good for well-being.

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Technological innovation has allowed society to communicate across distances since the days of

the telegraph and telephone. Contrary to popular belief, this same technology is still helping society

connect and communicate.

For all the good shared about technology, one must also be careful of those that are seeking to

deceive or prey upon others. It is always important to be careful and to ensure that appropriate safety

and security measures are followed during all online activities.

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Sources

Friending on Facebook www.facebook.com/help/1540345696275090/?helpref=uf_share

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Thomas, Lisa, et al. “Student Loneliness: The Role of Social Media through Life Transitions.”

Computers & Education, vol. 146, 2020, p. 103754., doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103754.

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131519303070)

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Jeske, Diane. Friendship and Social Media: A Philosophical Exploration. Routledge Taylor & Francis

Group, 2019.

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Jiang, Jingjing. “Many Teens Say They're Constantly Online – but They're No Less Likely to Socialize

with Their Friends Offline.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020,

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/28/teens-who-are-constantly-online-are-just-as-likely-to

-socialize-with-their-friends-offline/#:~:text=Teens%20who%20are%20constantly%20online,sociali

ze%20with%20their%20friends%20offline&text=Overall%2C%2024%25%20of%20teens%20who,d

ay%20or%20almost%20every%20day.
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(https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/28/teens-who-are-constantly-online-are-just-as-likely

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20almost%20every%20day.)

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Sherman, Aurora M., et al. “Friendship in Childhood and Adulthood: Lessons across the Life Span.”

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(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11130611/)

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Campbell, Kelly, et al. “Friendship Chemistry: An Examination of Underlying Factors.” The Social

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