Facebook has become such an important part of my generation’s lifestyle that I don’t know a single person among my high school and college friends who is not on Facebook. Friendship on Facebook may be similar to real world friendships in some regard and different in others. My experiences show Facebook enables us to better understand our current friends as well as find new friends.
When I am with friends, we usually talk about things that are fun to discuss such as sports and gadgets. We don’t usually discuss topics that are controversial or boring such as politics and social issues. Thus, it would have been very difficult for me to better understand my friends if it were not for Facebook. Even without directly talking to my friends on political, social, and cultural issues, I have come to better understand them and it is only due to Facebook. I read their statuses and also note the community pages they have subscribed to. In addition, they share posts which also tell me what they support or oppose and what issues are important to them. If it were not for Facebook, I wonder how I would have learnt more about my friends since we rarely discuss serious or boring issues face-to-face in order to avoid tension.
Facebook also helps me make new friends. I have subscribed to community pages about hobbies and interests I pursue. I often share my ideas and also seek opinions from others. Over time, I have made friends on Facebook who share my interests and are not only from different U.S. states but also other countries. I almost consider them my pen pal friends and I don’t think I could have met them without Facebook. In fact, I have not met one of them in person yet we communicate through Facebook just as close friends do. In fact, I can talk to them about my interests that I cannot even to my best friends from high school. Whenever I tried discussing my certain interests with my high school friends, I realized the discussion was boring for them. But my Facebook friends love the same things and we can talk for hours at times. My Facebook friends have even introduced me to new interests and hobbies which are popular in certain European countries only and I have found them to be quite interesting. These Facebook friends have also helped me strengthen my global perspective as we sometimes talk on global political, cultural, and social issues.
Facebook also helps me stay in touch with my high school friends who have moved to other places to attend college and has even helped me find friends with whom I had lost contact since a long time. I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to stay in touch with old friends without Facebook. If there was no Facebook, I could only stay in touch with few friends by calling them from time to time and it would have been costly in terms of both time and money. Facebook allows me to stay in touch not only without any costs but also quite easily. In addition, it allows me to stay in touch with many more friends than would have been possible through phone communication.
I see Facebook as a blessing. Facebook has helped me better understand even those friends I have known for a long time. In addition, it has helped me stay in touch with many friends that are in studying in different places. Last but not least, Facebook has helped me find new friends who share my interests and who are from all over the world. These international friends have also helped me improve my global perspective.
