The human being i s social animal, as Aristotle stated, we need to feel accepted in a certain group and feel loved for who we are. Both actions shows us that we need others to grow, to get ahead in life, to keep learning to be wiser and better. We need each other for success.
The only difference is that: while we belong into a group that share the same ideas, preferences, situations, there is no love between the members of the group, only the same passion about the same things we are passionate about… these are the modern tribes, where people gather to share what they love with other people who are love the same. There is no true friendship, but the amount of information we have about what we care.
A friendship is all about looking up for what is good for the others and ourselves. A friend is someone that will give all what they have to us because we are worth it, that is why we share secrets, dreams, ideals with someone we know is looking for our best interest and wellbeing. And that is what we also give to the other. In friendship there is a community of love and respect because we are always looking for what is best for the other, rather than gain advantage for ourselves. There is no shame, only acceptance without conditions.
Tribes have their opportunity in social media, where we can form a group, a selected one, to talk about the same things we are interested, and we can have as many groups as we like. With social media we will always feel we belong, but not loved. “For members of the urban tribe and the
community of practice, active participation is essential and passivity is discouraged… mutual engagement extends into establishing engagement, diversity and partiality, and reciprocity, which all serve to define the e-tribe.” (Electronic tribes.)
The main difference is that we need to be sure that we are in a tribe because we participate in topics that are common, no matter where we are from, and we may develop a friendship with someone in the tribe. But we cannot confuse belonging with friendship, because we may share the same interest and not looking out for the well being of each member of the group.
Coffee shots 