Friendship in the world we live in seems different to what it used to be. But is different better?
The word friend used to mean someone you hung out with. A close friend was someone who shared your secrets and your lipstick. Friends were the people around you - the wider circle of those who inhabited the same part of the world as you. When you were a teenager, it was your school friends and those who lived nearby. When you went to work, your circle widened to include those in your department.
Not that all of these people were your friends. There would always be people you didn't like or who didn't like you. But friendship was primarily a physical thing.
Now you can have friends anywhere. They live in a virtual world, liking or ignoring the selfies you post of FB or Instagram. They can make comment on your life without consequence but so can you, knowing you wouldn't say it to their face but hey, everyone does it. You can kid yourself that a celebrity likes you because they re-tweeted your latest witticism.
People are cruel on these sites, not just through what they say or do but in subtler ways. If you post up a tale of your latest woes, is it worse if someone is unsympathetic or if they ignore you? How many posts disappear when the Like count isn't up to the mark? Surely that must heighten the sense of not belonging?
And so what if you have 500 "friends"? If there's no-one there to give you a hug when you're low or laugh with you at life's misfortunes, then do the platitudes of the 500 make up for that? Is it better than nothing? Or does it serve to maintain the illusion of friendship in today's world?
Because somehow it doesn't seem quite real. And surely a step away from reality is not a good direction to go in?
Or is it?
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