The following exchange took place recently between two students.
"I just got my 500th friend on Facebook," Javier said to his classmate, Christine.
Christine looked up from texting her friend, Laura, who sat on the other side of the room checking her Snapchat. "I have 150 friends," Christine replied, "but I only talk to about 20 of them."
"What do you think of my Facebook page?" Javier asked, showing his tablet to Laura.
She glanced at the picture of him sitting on the hood of his Mustang, raising a bottle of beer. Then she shook her head and went back to texting.
1. Is Javier and Christine and Laura's idea of friendship typical or atypical, when you think of your own life?
2. What are a few specific challenges you've experienced using mediated communication to maintain friendships and relationships?
3. Using Google or the library's databases, find two strong resources (e.g. newspaper/magazine article or peer-reviewed journal)-one that supports the idea that mediated communication has enhanced interpersonal communication and another that refutes it. Using the articles, say something about the following idea: "Mediated communication (i.e. social media) has, for the most part, had a positive effect on relationships in our culture."