Homework: Expanding Networks and Minimizing Connections
Research indicates that there are millions of people addicted to the Internet (p. 104). This addiction is similar to a shopping addiction, where more is considered better. People often compulsively collect friends.
In your text, Vernon maintains that the Internet certainly brings more people into our lives, but it is best suited for sustaining friendships, rather than creating them. He writes: "Virtuality may feel liberating, as free as a planet whirling through space. But we are persons, and embodied persons, too. Intimacy ultimately depends for its flourishing on contact in the real world, face to face" (p. 121).
In this reading material, the following philosophers discuss their views on this topic: Aristotle, Kuhn, Turkle, Greenfield, Bugia, Smallwood, Block, and Teilhard. Do not use people or place names which may identify someone. Do not share links to others' Facebook or other social media sites.
1) Evaluate/Assess your own enactment of Internet friendship, or that of someone you know (child, friend). Do you primarily use the Internet to collect new friends, maintain your friendships, or both? Apply ethical considerations regarding the intersection of the Internet and friendship.
2) To what extent is it possible to cultivate true intimacy online in a way that one might experience in person?
3) How does our consumeristic society impact our approach to online friendships?
Vernon, The Meaning of Friendship: Chapter 4: Friending Online Bennet, Helm. (2013). "Friendship" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the homework, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.