Last week we covered social networking sites mainly Facebook, and how so many people put so much effort into the persona they have on Facebook. We talked about how people end up lying so much about their lives on Facebook they end up like Catfish. In many ways it is known as being negative to have so many friends on Facebook and not in person. Most of the time this is true but what if you can't have friends in person? My aunt had a disease that left her bedridden a majority of the time. Sometimes she had to stay in a nursing home because she required too much care for my grandma. She has always been a social butterfly but her body did not enable her to have those relationships in person. Through Facebook she was able to have a social life and to be herself despite her illness. She could chat with people, see their lives through their posts. She was on there all the time.
My mother hates social networking sites and sees them in a very negative way. When my aunt passed my mother wanted to see all the things my aunts Facebook friends were saying so she made a profile. What she saw truly surprised her. The Facebook community was very much saddened by the death of my aunt. My mom assumed this whole time that these virtual relationships were not real friendships. Now she realized my aunt had a family here that truly cared about her even though almost all the communication was through technology. Facebook can have such a negative reputation of having friendships that aren't real or aren't as pure because they are not in person. But just because they aren't in person, it doesn't mean they aren't any less authentic.