The Illusion Of Friendship And Connection

With today's technology, it's so much easier to connect with friends and family. We have email, instant messaging, social networks and more. We can upload photos for the world to see, we can upload video or our thoughts on pretty much anything. With that in mind, here is a fun exercise for you to try.

Give a round estimate number for the following:

- How many friends do you have on your social network? (if you are on one)

- How many friends do you on your mobile telephone?

- How many friends do you see in person on a weekly basis?

- How many friends do you consider truly close?

Did you notice the numbers are getting significantly smaller and smaller?

This is what I call the illusion of friendship and connection. It is truly an illusion for people to think that we are so connected' with each other. The fact is that most people are as lonely as ever, except now they can choose to fool themselves with an illusion.

Would any of your friends' report you missing, if you were gone for days?

I sincerely hope so, but that's not the case for everybody. True friendship is now a unique and rare experience for many. Ask yourself, when was the last time you truly had fun? Chances are most of you would name a time when you were surrounded by close friends or family.

Why People love the Illusion

It's one of our most important needs in life, to connect with other people. We strive for it in almost every endeavor we undertake. But to truly connect with other people, we must stop fooling ourselves by thinking that social networks are connecting us' and keeping us close'. They are not.

You instinctively recognize this fact whenever you post a message and no one replies or even reads your message. Something in your gut hits you as though the illusion of friendship finally revealing it self to be just that, an illusion.

How to truly grow and connect with other people

To truly grow and connect with people you need to get out in to the real world. Do something fun in real life. Stop being lazy and using fake forms of entertainment. Get a girlfriend, get a boyfriend or find someone special and unique in your life. I bet if you truly had someone special you would spend a whole lot less time tinkering with the illusion of friendship.