Friendship in the Social Networks Era

We used to leave our houses to meet our friends or sneak out to some taboo areas to enjoy some quick abuse. Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp....) have re-defined the meaning of the word "friend." Instead of interacting with the other people in the neighborhood, users can now converse with people on the other side of the world. Facebook has closed off many of the barriers that used to prevent communication and awareness of the world around us. Many young people log on to Facebook daily, connecting with their friends, sharing updates and photographs. While Facebook may be a great sharing tool, it is no substitute for real-world human interaction. 

We used to have much less connexions with much more connections. Our humane interactions are some of the basic human needs. We need to be a part of a group and to connect with others is a real human physiological need. Studies have shown that babies that don't receive adequate skin to skin contact in their first few weeks of life suffer more illnesses than those that are held and cuddled. The need to feel accepted is real and instinctive.

Social Networks, however, can present a false sense of security when it comes to real connection. While it is great to chat online and share articles and stories, humans need real contact. There is no substitute for an in-person visit or a phone call. The small blue screens are giving us false hope of being in touch. Yet, once this phone battery is drained out, we loose all this luxury of being in touch with "close" screen friends.

The key is to enjoy social media without sacrificing quality time with friends and family. Your sisters and brothers will soon grow older and have lives away from home. Spend all the time you can with them now. Your babies will also grow away with their own phones. Our wives, our husbands need us as well.

If social media consumes all of your time, you are missing out on the real quality interaction with family that you need to be fulfilled. Take time to shut off the computer and go outside and enjoy the weather. Call a friend and arrange a time to meet for lunch and talk. Sit down to dinner with Mom and Dad without texting and messaging under the table. You will be surprised at how much more fulfilling your life is when you seek out real human interaction. 

When you have your own family. Ensure that your phone is far away from the dining table. Make sure that kids do not need to text you to ask you for a quick meeting at home. It is tempting to keep the eyes focused on the small screen. However, it is much harder on the little eyes to look around and find noone there for them except their mom's and dad's locked phone. 

Our Whatsapp and Facebook are great tools to keep in touch but they can never substitute the love and warmth of family and friends.

Enjoy a social media-free day every once in a while and get to know the people around you better. By pulling the plug on social media, you will be tapping into a rich world of human connection that will last you throughout life.

The individualism impact on our global culture

Since the emergence of humanity on the Earth, the family has been the primary social unit. It has been also the principal economic unit. Humanity as a collective of families evolved to be the dominant species on Earth according to Darwin (1871) and Megarry (1995).

Humans, in families, advance and progress better. They foster advantages and realize synergies that would not be realized otherwise. Survival, performance, security, development, education, civilization in addition to other humane progressive characteristics were fostered and nurtured due to the social bounds between family members and close ties within the societies.Until now, family businesses manage 3/4 of the human productions globally (Goody, 1996).

There is a price tag for this family synergy. Group friction affects the members of the same families in various forms demonstrated by business conflicts, divorce, parental issues, youth issues. Such issues hinder the survival and growth of humans on earth.

Families ties and kinship are divine trust to the human according the main religions of the world Islam, Judaism and Christianity. They might be also mandated by other religions of the world but I am not aware of.

Family kinship is a moral order and a divine order to share value and offer compassion for others within the same family and extend that goodness to the larger national or universal families.

Lately, the western culture is advocating for the individual as a social unit of humanity. What are the impact of such a paradigm shift in the humane relations? What is the impact of the way we run our lives?

On the one hand, the individualism is the basis of the amoral economic logic of modern money market (Steward, 2003). The individualism is the basis of capitalism as well. The individualism lead us to live an introvert live in which a neighbor does not know whether her next door old friend is sleeping hunrgy or has got a simple meal.

We are living in an age in which we close our doors and forget about the rest of the world around us. we die alone. Our nieghbours leave this world alone. We continue our lives as if nothing happened !!!

Adam Smith "own interest" theory in a family context

In 1776, Adam Smith famously wrote: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

Own interest is not only greed. If they care for the quality, their clients will stick and thus they will make more money on long term.

The same concept applies at home, if the father cares for his retirement welfare, he should care for his wife and children and put efforts to treat them well. If the mother cares for her future happiness, she will treat her husband and children well not to loose their future care.

A good butcher is the one who smile and please his clients. An attractive bakery is the one whose owner is always nice with people and she strive to serve them well.

A happy family needs a smart father and a gentle pleasant mother.