ARMCHAIR FRIENDS ONLY - COULD THIS BE WHAT IS IN STORE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS?

This morning like I expect many of you out there, I woke up and after a few minutes reached for my phone to check what my friends had to say overnight on both Facebook and Twitter.

Once I had satisfied myself with this cursory glance.  I put on the kettle for a brew, then opened up my laptop, to have a more in-depth look on my social network accounts.  Liking, sharing, commenting, re-tweeting and marking as favourites. Once that was complete I checked my e-mail accounts for emails of note from friends ........
Job Done.!

I say my friends, maybe it would be more apt to refer to them as my armchair friends.

When you look at the number of friends you have on Facebook or Twitter, how many do you actually know personally in the true definition of a friend

A person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations. Out of my 273 listed friends on Facebook, I only have 5 personal friends, out of my 344 twitter friends, only 1 (and that is a new friendship and in the process of growing). By personal, I am referring actual knowing the person and having this bond.  I dare say it is the same for many of you that are reading this. Yet on these sites we join in conversations as if we were sitting around a table with a drink in hand chatting with our mates.   We share private thoughts in private conversations as if we are chatting to a close friend down the phone or in person.  We congratulate people on their achievements, wish them Happy Birthday. Yet in reality these are people we have never met or likely to meet. But what do we really know about these individuals, we are sharing our thoughts, dreams and aspirations with, we only know then from what they have decided to tell us about themselves, from that, we make the judgement whether we continue to share our private thoughts with them. I'm sure we have all met that person online,  with whom we have built up a rapport,  they appear to share the same interests as you, they make you laugh  etc.  You begin to converse on a regular basics in private typed conversations.  It maybe a person of the opposite sex, you question each other on their life and loves, you may even start flirting and even more.  In this scenario they say their single, attracted to you etc.  BUT are they being honest with you.  You have to take it on face value they are, after all, you're developing a friendship now, friends don't lie to each other, do they! Let's take a moment to go back in time, on how we used to make friends. You meet this same person on a evening out, face to face, once again you strike up this fantastic rapport.  You asked the same questions about their life and loves, but this time you have eye contact.  The person gives the same replies, yet this time a warning light goes off in your head. THEY ARE LYING. Why did this warning light go off?  While you were having this conversation in person, you were subconsciously reading them, their body language, their facial expressions.  Something the we all learn subconsciously as children and develop through social interaction.  Yet, when you are behind a keyboard you don't have this built in warning system.  You have relying on the other person being totally honest.  I hear so often these days, parent's complaining about their children are shy, introvert, then in the same breathe, moaning about the time they spend on their computers, playing  games with their online friends. Or chatting on social network sites.   Then when the family is in the company of others, the child has no social interaction with these people, they can't hold  a conversations, their heads are down, they rather be playing with their handheld gaming devices or on a tablet/phone. Also, they don't go out climbing trees, making dens, interact with children their own age in a game of footie, role playing Cops and Robber, Cowboys and Indians or playing dress up with their friends as Fairy Princesses This makes me think, what is it really going to be like for future generations, with all this technology around, will they have the ability to make true physical friends rather than armchair friends, will they have the ability to socially interact with other people as they grow up, will they have the ability to subconsciously read body language and facial expressions to allow them to read emotions, or alert them to danger.  Or will this have to be put on the school curriculum  as they are unable to learn naturally.  It's a possibility, a frightening one at that!. In answer to the question "Could this be what is in store for future generations?" I sincerely hope not.