Before:
Many people assume that you can’t build meaningful relationships through social media. Maria Konnikova, a Russian-American writer who has a phd in psychology writes in her essay “The Limits of Friendship” that “one of the things that keeps face to face friendships strong is the nature of shared experience.” (Konnikova 3) While I agree with Konnikova that one thing that keeps relationships strong is shared experiences, I cannot accept her overall conclusion that shared experiences can only happen in face to face interactions. When I was younger, I would play a lot of video games with a couple of my friends that I first met at school. We had a huge bond over video games that only helped create an even bigger bond in person. Shared experience in my opinion can occur online and in many situations when paired with face to face interactions can greatly improve relationships.
After:
Social media can be an amazing place to build meaningful connections. Yet, Maria Konnikova challenges this by insisting that it is not possible to build meaningful connections because “one of the things that keeps face to face friendships strong is the nature of shared experience.” (Konnikova 3) While I agree with Konnikova that one thing that keeps relationships strong is shared experiences, I cannot accept her overall conclusion that shared experiences can only happen in face to face interactions. When I was younger, I would play a lot of video games with a couple of my friends that I first met at school. We had a huge bond over video games that only helped create an even bigger bond in person. Shared experience in my opinion can occur online and in many situations when paired with face to face interactions can greatly improve relationships.
