PLEASE READ:

CHAPTER 4 OF

Vernon, M. (2010). The Meaning of Friendship. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 13:978-0-230-24288-3

Author Michael Bugeja writes: ââFriending really appeals to the ego, where friendships appeal to the conscienceâ (p. 107). Yet, many scientists are hopeful that people understand the difference between âfriending,â forming virtual links, and âbefriending,â forming real connections.

Your initial post should be at least 350 words and must provide a minimum of one cited reference in APA style. For assistance with APA style formatting, visit the Library or the Excelsior OWL.

Please answer both of the following questions:

1. Present your viewpoints about whether scientists are correct in stating that most people do see differences between virtual friending and real befriending. Is this an important distinction?
2. After reviewing the Stanford piece, how do online friendships stand up, ethically speaking?

The prompts below are suggested themes for continued dialogue during the week. You are not required to respond to these, but may find the prompts to be helpful to the dialogue.

• Do you think that friending as a concept was already in the culture and in social life, as a different term, before Internet friending was created?
• To what extent do you believe that friending appeals to the ego? Is it about popularity? A genuine social interest and connection? Other?
• Can friending transform into friends? Does that require in-person contact? Or other modes of virtuality?
• Is friendship more engaged in terms of matters of conscience, ethics, genuine emotion, as compared to friending?
• Do you see friending as a form of creating trust between people online? What type of measurement is it to you? Is it a preliminary to closeness?
• If you are very comfortable with online social networking, to what extent and in what degree is social networking a friendship community?

Your initial post should be at least 350 words and must substantively integrate the assigned readings from the module with proper APA style formatting.

ONLY BID IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THIS BOOK:

Vernon, M. (2010). The Meaning of Friendship. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 13:978-0-230-24288-3