This document discusses whether Facebook friends are truly friends and the impact of social media and technology on interpersonal relationships and communication. It notes that while social media allows people to feel connected to many others from a distance, it does not substitute for real face-to-face conversations. Over-reliance on technology for communication may lead to generations that prefer texting over in-person conversations and isolate music listening rather than sharing the experience together. True and meaningful communication that leads to sharing ideas is best done face-to-face.

1. Are Facebook Friends Really Your
Friends?
By: Kadir Keskin

5. apart

6. “Walking through a college library or the campus of a high-tech start-up,
one sees the same thing:
we are together, but each of us is in our own bubble,
furiously connected to
keyboards and tiny touch screens”
Sherry Turkcle NYTimes, Flight From Conservation

9. “In the silence of connection, people are comforted by being
in touch with a lot of people — carefully kept at bay””

10. “We can’t get enough of one another if we can
use technology to keep one another at
distances we can control: not too close, not too
far, just right”

11. “E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their
places — in politics, commerce, romance and
friendship. But no matter how valuable, they do
not substitute for conversation.”

12. “…and we’ll have generations of people who
are more comfortable texting their friends
than talking to them in person””

13. “Or perhaps they will prefer to sit around and
listen to their own iPods separately rather than
having the shared experience of hearing music
on a stereo system.”

14. “…being constantly
connected to gadgets is
akin to what psychologists
called a dissociative
disorder”

17. “All forms of communication work best when
they lead to the sharing of ideas and
recommendations, especially face to face.”
By Ed Keller and Brad Fay USA Today

20. “But if we want to promote real change — as in
our politics, public policies and cultural
behavior — it's best we do it face to face.”
By Ed Keller and Brad Fay USA Today

25. Sources
• http://www.traumaregister.co.uk/Articles/Human_Health_Contact.htm
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-henley/are-facebook-friends-real_b_180204.html
• http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-04-29/facebook-face-to-
face/54629816/1
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-
conversation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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