Americans have no friends?

[punkonjunk1024]

No, seriously, check out this article.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060623073209990027&cid=2194
I bet the main culprit is technology. Xanga and myspace and all that crap have ruined actual friendships.
That and porn's easy availability. Thoughts?

[MacWeirdo42]

I dunno, people seem busy these days. Become so wrapped up in their own lives that they have no time for anyone else. That's what's happened to a lot of my friends over the years, anyway. I can't say why that is, though, that causes it. I certainly don't disagree with the findings, though.

[Darth Marsden]

No, seriously, check out this article.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060623073209990027&cid=2194
I bet the main culprit is technology. Xanga and myspace and all that crap have ruined actual friendships.
That and porn's easy availability. Thoughts?
I agree with the whole technology thing, though not about Xanga or whatever. Most of my friends have moved away (we stay in touch via MSN) and I'm not the sort of person who can easily go out and make new ones. The only new friends I can kinda make are online, and I really can't confide in them.

[Dechipher]

Or maybe our standards have changed. What our parents would consider a "close friendship" might just be to us someone to kick around with.

[punkonjunk1024]

I agree with the whole technology thing, though not about Xanga or whatever. Most of my friends have moved away (we stay in touch via MSN) and I'm not the sort of person who can easily go out and make new ones. The only new friends I can kinda make are online, and I really can't confide in them.

I'm not saying everyone who uses it is misusing it... but alot of people have replaced actually doing something with spending god awful amounts of times on such sites.

[Dechipher]

On such sites, whose basic premise is interaction. You talk to your friends, and sadly enough, people confide a LOT on xanga, myspace, and other blogs. Sites like facebook keep people in touch. Not only that, but it is mostly teenagers who are on xanga and such. This study was, I bleive, Americans in general, not just moody kids.
I don't think it's technology's fault. At least, not the internet.

If you blame anything, blame TV and Hollywood.

Or kid's parents.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

I think that people these days have terrible time management skills, and though that's a result of a lot of factors, technology that changes our definition of social interaction being one of the big ones, I'm pretty certain that people just don't know how to make time for things anymore.

[MottZilla]

If you read the article, it says that work as well as entertainment is the blame, however social technology related activitys may help offset that. Though I don't know how true that would be. Some online interaction is retarded. Like many online games are pathetic. Example Halo 2. All a bunch of retards saying fUK U BITCH! NO FUK U! And so on.

[phattonez]

Too much emphasis is now placed on education and sports. Remember recess? That's leaving now. Sports have become too important in school. The end result? Kids don't get time to spend with kids and have poor social skills.

[Gunslinger]

Another point to consider is that Americans are one of the most sleep-deprived people. So not only do we have so little time to plan for "normal" social interaction, as DSG points out, but when we do have free time, we often lack energy to make social activities as worthwhile as possible.


That and porn's easy availability.

BAHAHAHA

[Dechipher]

Look at AGN. Granted we're not all American, but this kind of social interaction is beneficial. You learn how not to be a douche but still take things lightly.
Or you get banned. It's a basic cause-and-effect thing.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

You learn how not to be a douche but still take things lightly.


Since when is that the norm around here? :D

[vegeta1215]

I read that article the other day, and I feel like I fall into that crowd. Given, I had a lot of "friends" in school, but had a very small group of people I actually hung out with with. Since graduating from high school and then college, I haven't kept in touch with those people as much as I would've liked to (both sides are to blame), and since Aug 2000 AGN has helped fill the void slighty for me.

Even so, as much as I enjoy talking to everyone here, I do not feel like I have a lot of people I can confide in, save for maybe some of those I met at the AGN convention. Even then it's tricky, cause I keep my personal life separate from AGN.

[MottZilla]

After HighSchool is really common to lose touch with your friends. College and other things tend to make you go seperate ways anyway.