Aristotle, Alexander Were friends, but Facebook Changed All Of That

                                                                                       ALEXANDER THE GREAT

                                                                               

     Two Thousand Years Ago Aristotle and Alexander Were friends but today neither one would friend you on Facebook. Facebook has made an indelible mark on the concept of friendship. the average Facebook user has 42 friends. Many people have upward of 500. Without Facebook many of us millennial wouldn’t know what our friends are up to or what their babies or boyfriends look like. We wouldn’t even remember their birthdays.

       Aristotle wrote that friendship involves a degree of love. If we were to ask ourselves whether all or our Facebook friends were those we loved we’d certainly answer that they’re not. These days we devote equal if not more time to tracking people we have very limited human interaction with than to those whom we truly love. Aristotle called the former friendships of utility, which are for the commercially minded. 

        I’d venture to guess that at least 90% of Facebook friendships are those of utility. We increasingly use Facebook as a vehicle for self-promotion rather than as a means to stay connected to those whom we love; instead of sharing our lives we compare and contrast them, based on carefully calculated posts, always striving to put our best face forward.

        Alexander said friendship can be based on pleasure. all of the well-wishes and likes we get from our numerous face book friends may give us pleasure. but something feels false about this. Those who love for the sake of pleasure do so for the sake of what is pleasant to them and not as the other is the person loved. few of us expect the dozens of Facebook friends who wish us a happy birthday to ever share a birthday celebration let alone care for us when we’re sick or in need.

        One thing’s for sure, my generation’s friendships are less personal than my parents” or grandparents” generation. Since we can rely on Facebook to manage our friendships, it’s easy to neglect more human forms of communication. Why visit a person, write a letter, deliver a card, or even pick up the phone when we can simply click a “like button?

     The ultimate form of friendship is described by Aristotle as “virtuous” meaning the kind that involves a concern for out friend’s sake and not for our own. “Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good and alike in virtue. But it is natural that such friendships should be infrequent; for such men are rare. Those who came before the Millennial generation still say as much. My father and grandfather always told me that the number of such true friends can be counted on one hand over the course of a lifetime. Has Facebook increased our capacity for true friendship? I suspect Aristotle would say no.

DR.KARL WALLACE D.D.S,

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