Do you have many close friends?
I have only one friend I would confide in. I’m quite picky and more importantly, I have a somewhat irrational fear that none of my friends really like me and that I’m just a guy they can barely tolerate and it is hard for me to live in harmony with them.
Do you think friendship is important?
There is no doubt that friendships play a vital role in our life. They make our lives interesting and wonderful. They help us develop a sense of sharing whether they are tangible things or just inspirational or motivational words of wisdom.
Which do you prefer to spend time with: a friend or spend time alone?
It depends. Normally, I’m more of a loner and generally spend more time in solitude than with friends. But when I’m in a bad mood, loneliness makes me feel isolated from the whole world. These days, I will hang out with my friends so that sad and unhappy thoughts cannot come into my mind.
What kind of people do you like to have as friend?
I find myself attracted to people who are honest and who know how to behave with others. I always avoid making friends with people who have a superiority complex.
Do you like face-to-face conversations with people?
Actually I like to talk with cyber friends more than having real-world conversations. I think others observe me a lot, they judge me and hence I become very self-conscious and shy away from speaking face to face.
Are most of your friends from school or from outside school?
Most of my friends are from high school. People who I met at work or from clubs have less in common with me, whereas at Uni we all shared interests in the same things and subjects.
How often do you meet with your friends?
When I was younger, I used to meet my friends almost every day. Even friends outside of school were a part of my daily social interactions. But now, as a 23 year old working professional, I barely meet anyone during weekdays. I meet my closest friends only on some weekends. These meetups are sporadic too.
What do you and your friends do together?
My closest friends and I have a mutual interest which is we always have a thirst for clothes shopping, so whenever we have time, we will go shopping together until we break the bank. Sometimes when we are out of money, just window shopping is enough.
How do people in your country meet others and make friends?
I don’t think it particularly matters what country you’re from. In every country, you can make friends just by sitting next to someone a few times during class, and then a friendship logically happens. Otherwise, you can make cyber friends through social networks like Facebook or Twitter.
Do adults and children make friends in the same way?
Adults use self-disclosure to develop trust and loyalty among friends. This is quite complicated in practice while children usually use common interests and goals as the basis of their friendships. More importantly, kids have a whale of time with whomever, but adults have to use their time for work and taking care of their family.
Do you think it is possible to become real friends with people you meet on the internet?
Of course it is possible to establish real friendships with someone online. What you need in a friendship is truthfulness, reliability, empathy, respect and loyalty. If you’re getting all that from your online friends then you can consider them as genuine friends.
How do people (in your country) meet others and make friends?
Well, it’s kind of hard to say but people that I know around me tend to become friends because they were classmates in high schools or universities, but maybe for others, they just are co- workers so they develop good friendship in the workplace.
Do you think it’s easy for people to make friends at work?
Yes, people in the workplace all tend to be sociable so that every one will have more promotion opportunities and at least be productive. Besides, working in the office without friends will be tame because people won’t find partners to talk about work or their own life.
Is it important to have good relationships with colleagues at their workplace? (Why?)
Yes, I do. I feel that it’s hard not to have friends in the workplace. After all, we are going to spend over one third of our walking life each week at work, so you know, I don’t want to be socially isolated during that time, which will have bad influence on productivity.
Would you say the students (at your school/university) have a good relationship with each other?
Well, I’m afraid that not every student in the school have a good relationship with others because some of them seem to have a social problem, they are good at chatting with others, and are only willing to indulge themselves in the study. Hopefully as they grow up, they will recognize the importance of communication.
How would you describe a “good relationship”?
A good relationship between friends in my opinion is where both people are able to be themselves, respect each other, treat each with kindness and know how to give themselves and the other appropriate space.
Do you ever help a friend by giving advice?
Oh, yes, one of my friends smokes a lot and if he keeps smoking he is going to get lung cancer or something. So I consistently tell him about the problems that this stuff causes, get him a little sentimental, exaggerate and tell him to stop.
How often do you like to hang out with friends?
I hang out with my friends to somewhere from time to time. Normally if we have lots of time in the weekends, we will go to the cinema to watch movies with our kids to have a good time; but if we don’t have plenty of time, we’ll just have dinner together in a restaurant.
Who do you usually like to hang out with?
Usually I’d like to hang out with one of my close friends. Actually we live in the same community so we can meet frequently. Besides, both of our kids are in the same class in the kindergarten, so we’d like to take them to the park or playground together.
Where do you like to go when you hang out with your friends?
Well, that depends. We sometimes go to the restaurants to enjoy the tasty food if someone finds a decent place; and if we have plenty of time, we’d like to plan a hike or camp in the nearby forest park to enjoy the natural life. That would be a very memorable experience.
Do you like to go out with a big group or just few friends?
Well, if I were to choose between the two, I will probably go with hanging out with a big group people because I feel that I am an extrovert, I like to meet different people to know about different kinds of life and make myself more sociable; whereas, you know, with few people around, it would be hard to find something interesting to do, such as travelling, hiking, etc.
