Virtual Friendship

I read an interesting article,Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism," recently in the Summer 2007 issue of The New Atlantis. Christine Rosen, the author, discusses the social networking groups like Facebook and MySpace on the internet.

In her introduction she writes,

Although social networking sites are in their infancy we are seeing their impact culturally: in language (where to friend is now a verb), in politics (where it is de rigueur for presidential aspirants to catalogue their virtues on MySpace), and on college campuses (where not using Facebook can be a social handicap). But we are only beginning to come to grips with the consequences of our use of these sites: for friendship, and for our notions of privacy, authenticity, community, and identity...Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises--a surer sense of who we are and where we belong? The Delphic oracle's guidance was know thyself. Today, in the world of online social networks, the oracle's advice might be show thyself (15-16).

I think Rosen has written an insightful article that asks important questions. One of the basic ones is, What is friendship? It seems to me that "friend" and "friendship" has been devalued in cyberspace, and may, indeed, lead to more superficial friendships. Rosen writes, "The structure of social networking sites also encourages the bureaucratization of friendship. Each sit has its own terminology, but among the words that users employ most often is 'managing'...There is something Orwellian about the management-speak on social networking sites..."(27).

The gospel, at its core, is about relationships: with God and with others. It is about messy relationships, imperfect relationships, where grace and forgiveness are the mortar that makes everything possible. I wonder what effect these social networking sites will have on our young people in terms of understanding and living the gospel.