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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Friend (11/02/17)
As the years go by, physical contacts with actual individuals become limited. All the people we “know about” are crammed up into one device we can no longer live without. What’s the need of actually getting to know someone and sharing wonderful moments with them in person, when we can see their pictures and communicate through text. We no longer have friends, rather, a contact list or followers of people we barely know. We know so much about people but hardly know them. And as a result, we find that we care less about people around us. We no longer know how to build friendships and relationships. It’s too stressful we would say, why do we have to deal with the flaws of others when we can simply "unfollow" a “friend” or delete them from our contact list. The definition of friend as certainly changed. It is no longer people whom we form strong mutual bonds with but people with whom we are linked to through social media.



As the definition changed, the act of truly caring for and about people is slowly dwindling. There are times when as a people we all chip in to help the people in need around us and that’s great. But I have come to realise that we are gradually losing the act of being friendly because we are losing real friendships. We are quick to judge and react because all we get to see are a few snapshots of the lives of people. We no longer take time to understand why people do what they do because there is really no way of doing that except we form real friendships. We are quick to type out our thoughts and comments most of which can scar a person since we hardly think about our actions. If they were really friends, we would be watchful and careful about how we react. To top it off, is the way by which our sense of humor has changed alongside our lack of friendships. The sufferings and embarrassing moments of others have suddenly become funny. Countless videos go around social media of people being video taped unnoticed while engaging in some embarrassing act and quickly broadcasted to the whole world as a funny video. But is it really funny?



Is the video of a drunk man, finding it difficult to walk back to his home, funny? Or a video of a person who is struggling to communicate in a particular language, funny? Or that of a teenage girl who had no idea that some part of her body could be seen by other people? Or someone unknowingly videotaped in a sexual act? Or kids playing pranks on their parents or older people? It won’t be any funny when you put yourself in their place and realise how hurtful it could be to find the world making fun of you. With no ties to people and the little understanding of who a friend is, we find that we are caring less about the people around us and we are becoming more eager to tell the world how dumb someone could possibly be. When we try to see people through the eyes of God, seeing them as God’s creation or children. The meaning of friend has changed along with other things. These are people who have not received light on certain truths and are making countless mistakes. They are people God is eager to draw close to Himself and very saddened to find them indulge in acts which are undesirable. But I believe God is even more saddened when His children, watch them and think its funny rather than worrying. However, I believe, this is a time for Christians to see this as an opportunity and offer people our friendship, real friendship which many people secretly desire. By this we show them the love and friendship we receive from our God and to draw them close to God. May the Lord help us.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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This article has been read 374 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
11/10/17
Excellent message in this multi-layered piece.
Well done,
Blessings~
Lisa Enqvist 
11/10/17
Very true. Well written.
Bless you!
Bonnie Bowden 
11/10/17
Unfortunately, social media is the new form of communication, but it is usually better to connect with people face-to-face.

Very reflective piece of writing.
Jenny Fulton 
11/11/17
Good job bringing to light the various harmful effects of the social media world.