Friendship is a relationship between people with mutual affection. Friendship goes beyond association it is a powerful form of interpersonal bond. Various academic fields have tried to study friendship, some of these fields include; equity theory, attachment styles, social exchange theory and relational dialectics. Despite having various forms of friendships, certain characteristics have proven dominant in friendship bonds. Some of these characteristics include; love, kindness, empathy, honesty, loyalty, altruism, compassion, mutual understanding etc.
An adult has biologically been defined as a human that has reached sexual maturity. Human adulthood involves psychological adult development. Definitions of adulthood vary and are always inconsistent. Adulthood may be judged on legal terms of a certain region or on maturity. Different cultures have various events that mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. Historically, adulthood has primarily been determined by the beginning of puberty which was often being marked by a ceremony or some type of test. Adulthood is hence split into two forms; social adulthood and biological adulthood. By biological adulthood, it meant that an individual had attained the abilities of reproduction and there was the evidence of secondary sex characteristics. Social adulthood on the other hand, means people who are legally recognized by the law or by their culture.
Friendship in adulthood comes with affection, emotional support, companionship and contributes positively to physical health and mental well-being. Friendship in adults is particularly difficult especially meaningful friendships especially in the workplace. The reason for this is competition may arise and this results to adults learning to hide their vulnerabilities and flaws from colleagues as most adults value financial security over friendship with core workers. The average number of close friends that majority of adults have is two. Studies have shown that supportive relationships among adults enhance self-esteem.
Robin Marantz Henig, in the Times Magazine, supports theory of a new phase of life by psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett which is as a result of the rapidly changing times. Robin has addressed on why young adults seem stuck and why so many people especially those in their twenties take so long to grow up. Young people are moving back to their homes. This is a development that is happening in the current economic doldrums and no one has an idea on what the effects will be (Henig 12). This emerging adulthood, is affecting the young men and women, the parents who are depended on by many and the society which is built on the expectation of kids acquiring education growing up and having sustainable careers. However, this traditional cycle is perceived to have gone off course. Young people are not sticking to their romantic life or their permanent homes and due to lack of better options are going back to school (Henig 24). They are also evading commitments, traveling a lot and fiercely competing for unpaid internships or even temporary low paying jobs (Henig 27).
Robin has termed the twenties as a black box there is so much churning in there. One of every three people in their twenties annually move to new residence. Forty percent of the young adults move back to their parents at least once. During this age, they go through several jobs averaging to about seven jobs. Two of every three youths at least spend some time with a romantic partner having not being married whereas marriage takes place later than ever (Henig 40). Young people are taking longer compared to the earlier years to marry or get married. We are in the era of what one sociologist called “the changing timetable for adulthood.”
Social media are computer made technologies that create a platform for sharing information, ideas and other expression forms through virtual communities and networks (Anand 18). Some of these social media platforms or social networking sites include; Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, twitter, my space and Youtube. Social media has greatly changed social development in the community. The effects are both positive and negative. The most active users of social networking sites are the young people (Gupta 30). Emerging studies have found that the young people especially those in their twenties spend a significant amount of their daily life interacting in the social networking sites. Researchers have used various theoretical frameworks to check the relationship between the youth and the social networking sites on psychological well-being, privacy, youth safety, social capital and educational achievement. Tools of communication among the youth go by strange names such as wall posts, activity feeds, status updates, profiles etc. These are ways currently used by the youth to communicate on social media (Jain 44). All these social media platforms utilize web 2.0 principles by O’Reilly. These principles advocate that websites should not be only about centrally controlled content but rather they should rely on the participation of mass of users. This has greatly resulted to the youth using the social networking sites in large numbers.
The connection to these global online communities has its frightening prospects for both the parents and the educators. The internet is flooded with uncontrolled content that the parents cannot keep track of what the youth come across.
Works Cited.
1. Marantz Henig Robin (18 August 2010). “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” The New York Times.
2. Jain MR, Anand N, Gupta P (2012) Impact of social networking sites in the changing mindset of youth on social media issues- A study of Delhi-NCR youth. Journal of Arts, Science and Commerce 3: 36- 43.
