Responding to:
Friendships — 5 March 2005
Share some of your opinions on the concept of friendship.What kind of people do you surround yourself with as your friends? Do you find yourself more comfortable with people your own age, or does that matter? Do you like to surround yourself with lots of people, or do you like to have a smaller, more tight-knit group around?
How easy or difficult is it for you to meet new people and make new friends? Is it easier or harder to make friends using the Internet, and what kind of positive effect has meeting friends online had on your life? What are the greatest kindnesses a friend has shown to you?
—From Out There! Collaborations, December 2000
My friends generally are pretty entertaining, and generally aren’t too wild (with a few exceptions X-P). I don’t usually enjoy hanging out with people who are a grade or more above me, because it’s somewhat intimidating to me. Younger kids are fun to talk with, although I don’t know many because I only hang out with people my age.
I have a lot of friends, but only a few of them are really close. So I guess you could say that I like to surround myself with a lot of people, yet I still have a close circle of friends who I trust the most.
I’m not particularly social with people I don’t know well, so it’s hard for me to make friends with new people. When I first came to Miller, it took me a long time to finally start talking with people from other schools, and even then I only conversed with people in my grade.
I think it’s a lot easier to make friends using the Internet because then if they decide to judge you based on what little they know of you, you can disappear completely by blocking them, changing your screen name, or simply signing off. Also, when you’re chatting online, it’s easier to say things you might not be able to bring yourself to say in a face to face conversation, because online communication makes things so impersonal. This gives more of a chance to really express themselves. For example, you might be able to chat civilly with someone you would absolutely hate if you actually met them. But this effect is a double-edged sword, because then you never really know what the other person is like.
I think I’ve covered my angle on friendship pretty well. For me, I’m somewhat shy so it’s hard to make new friends, but I am eager to talk with familiar people.