Wait...WHAT? No.

Bob Costas greatest pet peeve about sports has always stuck with me. When the famous sports announcer was asked in a round table discussion about what bothered him about sports, he replied,

“I get annoyed during those times in sport when someone passes away and the broadcaster fills a moment during the game with ‘Well, that really puts everything in perspective now doesn’t it?’

No! No it doesn’t!”

Costas went on.

“What have we done in society, have we so lost touch with reality that it takes someone dying for us to remember that sports isn’t life and there are things that matter more than who wins?”

For some reason that quote always stuck with me as a caution against disingenuous questions. And it comes to mind recently in relation to social networks.

I’ve heard several people recently posit themselves as thoughtful by pointing out what is supposedly the newly evolving concept of friendship. Something that I don’t personally believe is newly evolving.

These people assert,

“People are realizing that instead of accumulating 500+ friends, what’s more important is creating meaningful relationships with a small group of people they can trust. They’re even going so far as to unfriend people.”

My reply?

No shit.

At what point did ANYONE speak sincerely about the fact that their accumulation of digital social network friends was more important, more supportive or more fundamental to their happiness than their closest daily friendships? Friendship is certainly evolving for some people. To each their own. But to tear apart the straw man of “new friendship” as a construct of the last decade is weak, and honestly we all deserve better discourse about the evolution of friendship and emotional connection. We deserve to extend each other the credit that we each know the meaning of a true friend and that that hasn’t been diluted by the digital connected with hundreds of acquaintances.

So next time someone makes a blanket claim about how friendship has been rocked by the blow of technology, ask them to be specific. Ask them to dig in and engage with what they're seeing and what they mean. My guess is this will be a much more intelligent discussion a step away from the false questions or general claims.