Assignment 5: Long Distance Friendship

Although long distance relationships can be challenging, through the use of mediated communication, they can also turn out to be extremely rewarding. The long-distance relationship I wish to describe doesn’t involve a significant other but instead my best friend who moved to Georgia when we were seventeen. Since her trek down the east coast, we’ve spent many hours developing and strengthening our relationship by talking on the phone, texting, IMing, video-conferencing and exchanging emails. I hope to explain how our relationship thrived through two of Wallace’s interdependent attraction factors; “proximity” and “common ground”.

Proximity is a huge motivator and perpetuator of friendship. Physical proximity and face-to-face conversations actually account for how Kayla’s and my relationship started. Once Kayla relocated to Georgia, we began interacting repeatedly over the Internet. No matter how busy we each were with our separate lives we would still save time to communicate on a weekly basis updating each other on the progression of our lives. Since our intersection frequency was high, we felt more familiar with each other and in turn, disclosed more information than we would have if we rarely communicated.

The second attraction factor that helped our relationship thrive is “common ground”. Common ground argues that those with “mutually shared beliefs, assumptions and propositions” will become closer. A basis of my friendship with Kayla was all of the things we shared in the past. Our families grew up together, played the same sports, and attended the same school and church. Through our shared past and present (attending college) experiences, we formed similar values and memories. This common ground led us to converse freely with each other through mediated communication without a fear of being judged.