Another Friendship Issue......

I got some really good comments on yesterday's post concerning friendship.  Several commenters raised some thought provoking questions, and that got me to thinking last night about an enormous issue that is going on right (literally) below our noses.

We all know there is a revolution continuing in our world, and it grows every day in every country---electronic communications.

Up until only about 20 years ago, people the world over socialized and made friends and sustained friendships the same way they had done it since human beings first roamed the earth---they met each other in person, conversed in person or by telephone and sustained their friendship by actually knowing one another by having a face-to-face relationship.

Today, that age-old method of creating and sustaining friendships is changing, whether we like it or not.

Today, our children "meet" other people on the computer or on their cell phones.  They "converse" by texting or E-Mailing.  They will tell you that most of their "friends" are people they have never met---and may never meet.

Even we adults are creating relationships on Facebook, MySpace and Blogger with folks we have never met.  This is a huge revolution in social interraction.  In another 20 years, I cannot even imagine how we will define "friend" or "friendship".

Questions:

---Is a follower on Blogger---someone you probably will never meet---a true friend?  In 20 years, do you think your answer will be different than it is today?

---Sociologists say that children of today are losing the ability to relate in a face-to-face manner.  What kind of world is this creating?

---Do you have any strictly on-line relationships that you would classify as "friendship"?