ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to some of the basic concepts to be discussed throughout the book. It begins by overviewing western cultural transformations related to communicative technology innovations. There are several effects of these transformations on friendship and ethics generally. There are also effects on our relationships and different interpretations of these effects. Here, counter arguments from both of the current dichotomous threads of research about the effects of technology on our relationships are considered. This chapter advocates for an investigation of friendship, technology, and ethics grounded in the philosophy of communication tradition. It proposes that friendship is best viewed as a communicative phenomenon, and as such, allows several of the complications of conceptualizing friendship to be bypassed. The chapter ends by highlighting and previewing each of the following chapters.
