Friend Me: The Evolution of Friendship and Young Adult Science Fiction Predictions

Abstract

Over time the concept of friendship has changed with scholars such as Aristotle, Montaigne and Deresiewicz defining it in relation to their historical time periods. With social media insinuating itself throughout our society and replacing more traditional communication channels, how we make, communicate and keep friends may be changing, creating a new kind of friendship. By comprehending the changing ideals of friendship through examining not only our past but also our future, speculated within science fiction, we can better understand the issues we are facing now. Young adult science fiction offers us a subjective evaluation of the fears, hopes and anxieties older generations may have for today’s adolescents in regards to this new technology and encourages us to question the direction we’re heading in. In my presentation I will examine the shared theme of friendship in the young adult science fiction novels “Feed” by M.T Anderson, “Scored” by Lauren McLaughlin and “The Unidentified” by Rae Mariz and how they speculate on the future role of friendship by portraying dystopian worlds where the relationships are flawed and dysfunctional, highlighting the shifting values of the modern day friendship.