Kathrin Sharaf's Page

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.