15-year-old me sat back, binging the 10 lengthy seasons of ‘Friends’ and deeply convinced that I too will experience what they have one day. It was simplicity itself, right? Living with your best friends, doing extremely fun, spontaneous things on the daily and never once feeling like you were alone in your struggles. Viewing friendships through rose-coloured glasses came with heavy expectations. Now, more than 3 years and plenty of faded friendships later, how has my view on it changed? How does technology blur the line between friends and followers?

Throughout my teenage years, I’ve consistently heard that it’s essential to have a great support system. Not helpful, not beneficial, but essential. I spent a long time trying to accumulate friends, desperately trying to hold on to ties and ‘build’ my support system. Don’t get me wrong, I met a myriad of ambitious and lively people due to this, most of whom I still admire greatly. But that long struggle, coupled with the inner scramble of trying to find my identity was difficult, to say the least. I’m aware as to how cliché this might sound but: ‘Anything forced is not worth fighting for’. In the past year, I’ve made some lifelong friends. People who have stuck with me through the not-so-great phases. Through the insane bursts of laughter and the desolate hours of hopelessness, it has made me realize that friendship is not a project, nor is it a task. It is a promise to be there for each-other unconditionally. To be a catalyst to each other’s growth and self-improvement, to forgive and most importantly, to love.

Social media has engulfed our daily lives, in fact, you probably came across this website and article due to the unrestrained power of it. It has given our vocal generation a platform to display our potential and opinions, but how does it affect our friendships? Flooded with likes, dislikes, stories, comments, ‘spam accounts’ and the block button; we have created a futuristic platform where we can establish and fully maintain a friendship on a screen. This has deemed useful in its own way as I, personally, have been able to keep in touch with friends on the other side of the globe and befriend some remarkable people due to social media. However, it does have its tolls. People tend to display only the most desirable fragments of their lives to their followers; this can cause a lack of depth in a friendship ‘carried’ by social media.

It has become fairly effortless to DM someone and start up a conversation. This has made the boundaries (mainly different locations) to friendships almost invisible and that in itself is a notable opportunity. It is up to us how we utilize it and who we let into our lives. Be mindful when it comes to who you award that place in your life to because, in the words of Rachel Green herself:

‘There’s nothing like a really loyal, dependable, good friend. Nothing.’ – Jennifer Aniston