Genuine relationships matter in today’s connection-driven world. Technology keeps advancing to help us better stay in touch with those we love. The upside of this? High school reunions are way less awkward. Now we can deal with all the drama before we arrive. The downside? A new generation doesn’t always know the difference between “real” and “fake” relationships.
There are different types of relationships. As a nation, we once took this to heart. A person with common interests who you felt safe enough to share your secrets with was a close friend. The guy you make small talk with while waiting at the dentist’s office was not. Now, because we can follow dentist guy on Twitter, we don’t always know how to define him.
Genuine Relationships for a New Generation
Today’s teens can’t recall not being able to connect with someone virtually. They’re accustomed to having access to people any time, in any format. We can learn about our contacts through pictures, videos, posts. That can give us the illusion that we know someone just because we know some information about them.
Sociologists use the term social ties to explain how we truly connect to someone. How strong a tie is between any two people depends on the amount of time they spend together, the emotional connection, the level of closeness, and (I like this one) the reality of how reciprocal the relationship is.
3 Types of Relationships
Experts say we can have three types of social ties, and not all represent genuine relationships. Youth ministers must teach students the truth about different types of connections.
1. Weak Ties
These are “acquaintances” or people we interact with but have no emotional attachment to. This is the person we see every day in the hallway and say hi to, but that’s it. We follow them on social media because we met them once. We might see a lot about their lives but don’t really have anything to do with them.
2. Strong Ties
These are the genuine relationships most important to us. These are people we share our lives with, and who share their lives with us. Some would say this could never happen via social media.
I would contend there needs to be times when you truly interact with these people in person, or face to face in some way. However, with video chats or a good old-fashioned telephone, we can have long-distance friendships pretty easily. What’s important in these ties is that you go deep, and the connection isn’t one-sided.
