Dialogues on Sustainability, Leadership and Resilience
Transition of friendship in Egypt
Hello everybody!
My name is Kathrin and I am new here. A friend told me of this community. At the moment I am doing research about the transition of friendship in Egypt, and wanted to ask, what you think about this toppic. Therefore I ad an abstract of my research-project:
Friendship is a universal phenomenon, found in various cultures and societies in different shapes. However, friendship relations are undergoing
significant changes in a globalizing world. Especially
new communication media like the Internet play an important role in the
maintenance and development of friendships today. The technological innovations in the interpersonal communication are first
and foremost for the youth of
particular importance. The
Internet entails that the young people share their lives with more people than
it was the case a generation ago. Increasingly these friendship relations are
not only purely local, but also intercultural relations, with the consequence
that different ideas and concepts of friendship come across. In the cities of Egypt,
the Internet is especially among the young very important for interpersonal
relations. The age group 16 to 30 years represents more than half of Egyptian
Internet users. For most of them, email and chat with friends are in the
foreground of their Internet usage. The main focus of interest lies on the
maintenance and expansion of social contacts. Especially in very young
societies, like in Egypt, possible changes in existing concepts of friendships,
determined by new communication technologies, could be observed in generation
comparison.
The aim of the dissertation project is to find answers to
the question how or if existing concepts of friendship are changing on account
of the Internet. Due to the fact that in Egypt, mainly younger generations use
the Internet - and primarily for the purpose of maintaining personal relations
– this regional example is particularly suitable for an analysis where the main focus
lies on the change of concepts of friendship, because of the great potential
for change in generation comparison. The focal point of the study lies
on handed down and culturally coined concepts of friendship. It should be explored if there are any differences in
the definition of friendship between older and younger generations and whether
bequeathed concepts of friendship have an influence on the notions and ideas of
friendship of the young people.
My name is Kathrin and I am new here. A friend told me of this community. At the moment I am doing research about the transition of friendship in Egypt, and wanted to ask, what you think about this toppic. Therefore I ad an abstract of my research-project:
Friendship is a universal phenomenon, found in various cultures and societies in different shapes. However, friendship relations are undergoing
significant changes in a globalizing world. Especially
new communication media like the Internet play an important role in the
maintenance and development of friendships today. The technological innovations in the interpersonal communication are first
and foremost for the youth of
particular importance. The
Internet entails that the young people share their lives with more people than
it was the case a generation ago. Increasingly these friendship relations are
not only purely local, but also intercultural relations, with the consequence
that different ideas and concepts of friendship come across. In the cities of Egypt,
the Internet is especially among the young very important for interpersonal
relations. The age group 16 to 30 years represents more than half of Egyptian
Internet users. For most of them, email and chat with friends are in the
foreground of their Internet usage. The main focus of interest lies on the
maintenance and expansion of social contacts. Especially in very young
societies, like in Egypt, possible changes in existing concepts of friendships,
determined by new communication technologies, could be observed in generation
comparison.
The aim of the dissertation project is to find answers to
the question how or if existing concepts of friendship are changing on account
of the Internet. Due to the fact that in Egypt, mainly younger generations use
the Internet - and primarily for the purpose of maintaining personal relations
– this regional example is particularly suitable for an analysis where the main focus
lies on the change of concepts of friendship, because of the great potential
for change in generation comparison. The focal point of the study lies
on handed down and culturally coined concepts of friendship. It should be explored if there are any differences in
the definition of friendship between older and younger generations and whether
bequeathed concepts of friendship have an influence on the notions and ideas of
friendship of the young people.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Christer Soderberg on -
Thank you for your discussion posting. I am curious about the concept of friendship in this new age of internet communities; we connect to so many more people across so many cultural, social and economical borders, and that is a good thing, but I sometimes wonder about the depth of these friendships, naturally more superficial because of the limitations of the medium. Are we re-defining friendship or is the concept of friendship changing? Maybe we need a new word for this new type of friendship/phenomena?
-
Permalink Reply by Kathrin Sharaf on -
Hi Christer,
Thank u for your reply! I am sure that a lot of things change because of the Internet, that's why I am doing research about that topic. I am not sure, if these new friendships are always superficial. Here in Egypt I made the experience, that friendships become even more intense, since the Internet is sometimes the only way to keep in touch with friends. But still, the Internet is of course a mixed blessing. The way to communicate is so different and it brings new problems. It's an interesting question, if we should look for a new word for those online friendships. I will consider this during my research :)
Support Our Projects
Donations go to Open World Foundation and its projects, i.e. Replanting a Rainforest. For more information visit:
www.openworldfoundation.org
www.replantingarainforest.org
Badge
Photos
Open World Café Rio
by Christer Soderberg Added May 31, 2010 at 10:34pm 1 Comment
Replanting a Rainforest - FAF Lot 2 - Photo Updates
by Christer Soderberg Added March 20, 2010 at 9:05pm
Replanting a Rainforest - FAF Lot 2
by Christer Soderberg Added November 19, 2009 at 1:27pm
Helena's 27+ Party
by Christer Soderberg Added November 10, 2009 at 3:49pm
© 2010 Created by Christer Soderberg.
Powered by 
.
