Talking about friendship, in the age of social networks, has become too complex since it is one of the feelings that binds two or more people since the human generation has existed. However, the meaning of it and the relationship in the context of the tools of communication technology with communication channels such as, for example, Facebook, which allows you to get in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world, through words and images, must be understood. To get some clear-cut answers on the role of friendship in the days of the internet, I interviewed Mirella who is in charge of the study concerning “friendship”. It is possible to give a unique and indisputable definition of friendshipMaybe not, since friendship is a feeling – an affinity that binds two people forever – and as always when it comes to feelings there are a thousand nuances and facets that prevent them from being enclosed in pre-established patterns. Poets, writers, philosophers , many have tried to give a univocal definition of friendship, but without success, because no friendship is the same as another, but they all have a common denominator: ‘ the bond ‘, that is, that feeling of closeness and communion that binds two individuals together. With the advent of the internet this bond can also be virtual and the term ‘ friendship‘has undoubtedly been inflated, used to indicate bonds that have little to do with friendship in the strict sense. In fact, if it is true that the cerebral neocortex can manage no more than 150 relationships (Dunbar’s number), therefore having Thousands of Friends on Facebook is an indication, in the best of cases, of an incorrect use of the term. Some have even gone so far as to argue that the advent of social networks like Facebook or Twitter has in fact killed true friendship. But that’s exactly how it depends. very essence of that feeling. The Internet and social networks, in fact, have not broken that bond which is a sine qua non for a friendship, they have changed it. Their contribution was mostly formal, as they created a whole new set of ways to forge that kind of bond. That in our days there is a great need for friends is also testified by the success of the countless websites that deal with the theme of friendship. One for all and Literalmente.net which has an entire area dedicated to the topic, with almost 500 Aphorisms and Phrases on friendship. Friendship before the webBefore the internet, chats, social networks and virtual squares, the only way to get to know each other, establish a friendship and cultivate it, making it grow and strengthen, was to go out, to meet in real meeting places. The town squares, the school bars, the parks, the cinemas have seen the birth and growth of millions of friendships. Today these places still exist and are still the scene of many stories, but they have been joined by other ways of starting and cultivating friendships, and some do not necessarily have to exclude the others, on the contrary they can turn into strengths. The Internet was born as a splendid utopia: eliminating the distances between people. Physical distances, cultural distances, distances in accessing opportunities. The visionary dream was to create a global village where everyone was interconnected. This dream has partially come true, despite the inevitable negative implications connected to it, and we citizens of the “global village” have learned to move within it and to live our feelings and emotions also through its rules. Friendship in the age of the internet is different, but not necessarily in the negative sense of the term. It is marked by different times and rhythms, but it knows no cultural barriers and is not afraid of distances.True, the term friend is also used to indicate a contact on Facebook with whom we have never exchanged a word, but this will never prevent us from going to the cinema with our friends, from meeting in the center with a friend for to drink a coffee. And who tells us that one day that contact cannot turn into a real friend and not just a virtual one Who can say when and how a great friendship can be born After all, even before Facebook, we knew people with whom we had no exchange, yet what maybe it didn’t stop us from greeting them when they passed them on the street, for example. Friendship requires, now as a thousand years ago, human contact, sharing experiences, carefree laughter and dried tears. But if you are miles away, it is not always a consolation to be able to see a friendly face and speak through a monitor . living relationships to the fullest, to add to the traditional ones that have already been used for millennia. Of course, the risk of building a world of only virtual friendships exists and cannot be denied. Disturbing is the case of the hikikomori, a Japanese term used to indicate those teenagers who at some point in their life decide to lock themselves up at home, stop going to school and spend their days in front of a monitor convinced that they can find everything they need in the virtual world, without having to face the outside world and life. We are sure, however, that the fault lies solely with the internet and social networks and is not, instead, the consequence of more complex problems The Internet has a limit – for better or for worse – and that is to amplify, to multiply indefinitely, and friendship and feelings do not escape this power. Friendship in the age of the internetit may be different in the way it manifests itself, but it has not changed its nature and essence. Friendship will always be represented by a deep bond between two people regardless of the means used to create that bond.

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