Social-networking websites like MySpace.com...
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Social-networking websites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com have given us a new
verb: "to friend." To friend another person is to add him or her to your "friends list" --
those computer users who have access to your personalized page. It's as easy as clicking
your mouse.
You'd think, with this huge explosion in friendship, that twenty-first-century Americans aren't lacking for friends. Yet, a recent study suggests just the opposite. The 2004 General Social Survey -- a major study of Americans and their lifestyles -- reveals that people typically report an average of only two "core" confidants with whom they "discuss important matters." This is down from the three confidants the average American reported, on the same survey in 1985. Only 57% of the 2004 survey respondents named one or more non-family members as a confidant. That was down from 80% in 1985.
Close friendships, it would seem, are becoming increasingly uncommon among us -- even as our casual networks of acquaintances, online and otherwise, are increasing. Paul treats Philemon "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother" (Philemon 1:16). He welcomed him into his own inner circle.
(Source of survey data: "Confidant Crisis," by Ann Hulbert, New York Times, July 16, 2006.)
You'd think, with this huge explosion in friendship, that twenty-first-century Americans aren't lacking for friends. Yet, a recent study suggests just the opposite. The 2004 General Social Survey -- a major study of Americans and their lifestyles -- reveals that people typically report an average of only two "core" confidants with whom they "discuss important matters." This is down from the three confidants the average American reported, on the same survey in 1985. Only 57% of the 2004 survey respondents named one or more non-family members as a confidant. That was down from 80% in 1985.
Close friendships, it would seem, are becoming increasingly uncommon among us -- even as our casual networks of acquaintances, online and otherwise, are increasing. Paul treats Philemon "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother" (Philemon 1:16). He welcomed him into his own inner circle.
(Source of survey data: "Confidant Crisis," by Ann Hulbert, New York Times, July 16, 2006.)
