1. In the advice forum on http://www.friendship.com.au/ they have rules. For example they state, “Please refrain from using offensive, sexist, racist, homophobic or otherwise non-acceptable language”. These types of rules do reflect challenges to friendships that are discussed in chapter 10. On page 257 of the textbook it discusses trust in friendship. It states “a key component of close friendships is trust…Trust involves confidence that others will be dependable…and…trust assumes emotional reliability, which is the belief that a friend cares about us and our welfare”. As much as we can have online friends who we have not met do they really have a vested interest in our welfare? I do not believe so. I think to have a vested interest in someone you must have talked to them on the phone or met them in person. There must be that emotional connect of bonding with the individual.
I agree the rules that the advice forum has are necessary to protect both individuals who do not have that emotional bond with one on another. Because if one individual responds to another person’s question online who knows what the response will be to the advice. The individual may take it in the wrong manner and be upset by the words of wisdom given because there has been no previous emotional bond between the two individuals.
Katrina
Hi Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you related what you saw on the Friendship Page to the concepts in this week’s readings. Trust is a really important aspect of friendships and using offensive language can be detrimental. If our choice of words is off-putting to a person, they will be hesitant to share their personal life with us. I like that you brought up online friends because nowadays, the internet makes that possible. We can connect with people in other countries, but the friendship isn’t in the traditional sense. Some readings in a class I took last semester addressed the dynamics of online relations and it for the most part, the closeness and connection isn’t the same as face-to-face. Thanks for sharing! :)