(this response is not meant to be a defense of Facebook in particular; the essay in the OP is a critique of digital friendships in general)
What trite. It reminds me of the essays about growing up in the 50s, when everything was simple and everyone got along unless you happened to be black or gay. If the only way you connected to friends was to write a "10-page missive" then it's quite likely you conducted your personal relationships in a way that made you unable to see that not everyone made and continued friendships through 10-page letters.
There's nothing wrong with long walks on the beaches and long wistful letters, but not everyone was able to maintain friendships like that. I'm thankful to live in a world where I can make good friends from random chats, and yes, some of these low-energy-at-first, random connections were made through Facebook. It doesn't mean that these friendships don't progress into something deeper.
Not everyone gets to live the kind of life that a Yale professor (the author of the OP) gets to lead. That doesn't mean that the ways we connect now are any less valid or meaningful than the epic moments and letters he apparently shares with his close friends.
Interesting. So, in another words, how you form friendships that are meaningful to you may not be specifically valid for someone like the OP, but as they are valid for you, then the way you form those friendships is valid (if we are to assume valid means "it works" and not to compare to some standard.)
What trite. It reminds me of the essays about growing up in the 50s, when everything was simple and everyone got along unless you happened to be black or gay. If the only way you connected to friends was to write a "10-page missive" then it's quite likely you conducted your personal relationships in a way that made you unable to see that not everyone made and continued friendships through 10-page letters.
There's nothing wrong with long walks on the beaches and long wistful letters, but not everyone was able to maintain friendships like that. I'm thankful to live in a world where I can make good friends from random chats, and yes, some of these low-energy-at-first, random connections were made through Facebook. It doesn't mean that these friendships don't progress into something deeper.
Not everyone gets to live the kind of life that a Yale professor (the author of the OP) gets to lead. That doesn't mean that the ways we connect now are any less valid or meaningful than the epic moments and letters he apparently shares with his close friends.