When Do I Friend?
Miriam Schulman
At the beginning of her Freshman year, Emily is a bit surprised to find a notification for a friend request along with a message. It's from John, a guy she met at Orientation who lives in the neighboring dorm. His message is brief: "Hey Emily! Good meeting you at Orientation. Looking forward to seeing more of you! John."
Emily hadn't spent too much time with John since they weren't in the same orientation group. During the few interactions they did have, though, he came off as a bit creepy. He kept popping up wherever Emily went and acting over-friendly. He's definitely not someone she is hoping to get to know better.
Emily feels kind of odd confirming, but she doesn't want to seem snobby and unfriendly by refusing something as simple as a Facebook friend request. Should she and John become Facebook friends?
RESOURCES
A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
The "Only If We're Off-line Friends" Rule
Photo by Ed Yourdon available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License.