First, I am assuming that this group of friends has already been established through face to face interaction over an extended period of time. If this is so, mobile communication allows these friends to share important events and frustrations with their group at a moment’s notice. Even something as simple as a girl wondering whether or not a dress looks good on her and sending a picture to get a friend’s input is strengthening their bond of friendship. As Ling talks about on page 31, a person's strong ties are important in the decisions that they make on a regular basis because their opinions are trusted. The ability to have instant contact with a friend will strengthen those ties, as it becomes an extension of that trust.
However, constant communication can back fire and weaken a group’s ties to each other when they become sick of each other. It is much more likely that a person becomes annoyed with her friends when she is not left alone. The friend who just won’t stop texting (the over-texter) gets annoying after a while, especially when she don’t take the hint that her friend is done speaking with her. In this case, the annoyed friend may still hold on to her annoyance with the over-texter in their next face to face meeting, or send back a rude text to make the over-texter stop texting. Either way, it is possible that through mobile communication, friendships can become too close, to the point where tensions run high and a strain is put on the friendships. In this sense, the group is weakened due to their constant communication.
Furthermore, in both examples, the friends were brought closer together, either to strengthen the bonds or before their bonds were weakened. Therefore, I guess I find it hard to believe that anything other than a lack of communication would weaken the ties of a friendship. Simply communicating with others forms bonds no matter how the communication is performed. So I guess I do have a definitive answer!!! :)
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