the changing concept of a friend

THECHANGINGCONCEPT

OF A FRIEND

FROM REALITY TO VIRTUAL

Qualities of afriend

Loyal

Dependable

Supportive

Empathetic

Trustworthy

Honest

Fun to be around

Good listener

Non-judgemental

What is a friend

In our research we decided to take abroad perspective on what isconsidered to be a friend. From here,we thought about different outlets ofwhere "friends" can come from. A fewof these outlets include:

Real lifeFacbookTwitterSnapchatInstagramOnline DatingTexting

Different typesof friends

From who we talked to, we

realized a general theme of

different types of friends that

people have. We divided these

into 3 categories:

Real friends

Virtual friends

Acquantances

Real friend

A "real friend" is the type of friend that one would consider tofit the dictionary definition of what a "friend" is. If you go to

Google and type in "define: friend" this definition pops up, "aperson whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of

mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or familyrelations".

Generally this type of friend is someone who a person hangsout with in real life and whom they spend quality time with. It

is the type of person who holds at least a few of thecharacteristics that are considered to be qualities of a friend

(as seen in the second slide of this presentation).

Virtual friend

A virtual friend is someone who a person may encounter via thevirtual world. That is, via social media, texting, or anywhere on the

Internet. While some virtual friends can also be "real" friends,others may only be acquaintances that one encounters over the

Web.

A main difference between virtual friends and real friends is thatvirtual friends do not necessarily hold characteristics that are

considered to be qualities of a friend. In fact, many will becomevirtual friends with people (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, etc.) but may

never actually talk to them or spend time with them in real life.Although they may never actually hang out with one another,

they may exchange any form of likes, comments, or talking viavirtual outlets.

Acquaintance

An acquaintance is someone who a person may know about, orhave encounters with . An acquaintance differs from a friend inthat the encounters are generally meaningless to one's life, and

neither person may feel a sense of mutual affection.

As a person, an acquaintance may hold qualities of a true friend,but those qualities may not be appreciated by the person who

labels them as an acquaintance. Although acquaintances are notconsidered to be "real" friends, the virtual world enables people

to stay connected with their acquaintances, often for the purposeof entertainment. This is why it is possible for someone to have,for example, 1,000 friends on Facebook, but only 30 true friends

in real life.

Our research

We decided to focus on 3 different age groups for ourresearch to figure out what the changing concept of a

friend is. Those 3 groups include teens younger than us(Generation Z), people around the age of college

students (Millenials) and people around the age of ourparents (Baby Boomers).

From here, we found the general idea of how theconcept of a friend has change.

Our main finding

Technology - including cell phones, the Internet and social media -has changed the way people view the concept of a friend

Would you say this is accurate?

How people become friends

Generation Z and Millenials

The general trends were that people meet otherat school, sporting events, through other people,

etc. then add one another on Facebook orInstagram and then proceed to have a virtual

and/or real-life friendshipOR

Add someone on Facebook/Instagram as a“friend” or “follower” and either follow up on areal life friendship or stay content as merely

virtual acquaintances

How people become friends

Parents/Baby boomers

The general trend was becoming friends by meeting eachother first, then once comfortable they may add that person

on a form of social media

Generally, they thought that the use of Social Media andtexting are great ways to stay in touch with close friends, but

they most likely wouldn’t communicate with someone inthese forms without knowing them really well first

In some cases, they though tsocial media infringed upon theformation of true friendships

How people treat real friends vs.virtual friends

All 3 generations agreed that they don’t treat theirvirtual friendships like their real-life friends

One explanation for this was that it is much easier tomaintain a meaningful relationship with physical contact

How people treat real friends vs.virtual friends

Generation Z and Millennial’s generally have morecontact with and are more open with their lives tovirtual friends that they may not be as close with,

while parents/Baby Boomers tend to be somewhatprivate on social media and only add those who aretheir true friends - they use social media as a way

to stay connected with old friends

Cultural practices - medium of choice

Generation Z: Instagram


Millennial's: combination of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat andTwitter


Parents/Baby Boomers: Facebook


All 3 generations said that they also enjoy keeping intouch with their friends via cell phones - i.e. talking on the

phone or texting

Many people also said that they would prefer to interactwith their true, real life friends in real life vs. virtually

Qualities of friends

For the most part, generations agreed that online friendshave different qualities than real friends

Qualities of friends

Example 1: Someone may text a virtual friend when they arebored, but they will seek out real life friends when they need

support with an issue in their life.

Example 2: Some people, such as those on the show Catfish,seek support, entertainment and trust via people online -

often because they can’t find these same qualities in real-lifefriends.

So, which is better - a virtualfriend or a real-life friend?

Is it truly possible to have 579 friends? IsFacebook actually responsible for thechanging definition of the word friend?

Add a little bit of body text

Is technology inhibiting orenhancing friendships in this

day in age?

Is the changing conceptof a friend a good or a

bad thing?

There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions.The changing concept of a friend could mean something

totally different to two different people and has no objectiveanswer.

Use these questions while exploring the rest of our site.Enjoy as we present to you more in depth about the

changing concept of a friend.

the changing concept of a friend

Education