Voice Box: Online and In-Person Friendships

We asked you:
What do you think are the pros and cons of online-only friendships and in-person friendships?

I prefer in-person friendships for sure! Whenever I talk online with any of my friends, they drift off and do something else while chatting. One of my friends looks at old photos and plays video games while chatting. It makes me feel really horrible. I try to get her attention, but usually it fails, so I just say "Gotta go" and then she thinks I don't like her.

Vidya, 12, VA

The pros and cons of these two types of friends vary. Online friends are harder to spend time with and bond with. But the good thing is that when or if you get into some kind of fight you can say, "hey I need to take a break from this. I am gonna get off the phone." This situation would be different if this was an in-person friend. You would have to continue the conversation or awkwardly tell them you need space. In-person friends are good because you can actually have a bond aside from electronics. You can do things together including going to the beach, going to camp, or spending time at each other's houses.

Zyphera, 12, MI

Usually, I meet my friends at school. However, for the past two years I attended an online middle school instead of a brick and mortar school. I like to text my friends whenever we aren't out getting boba or going shopping. I prefer 100% in-person friendship because it gives more interaction, and you get to do more fun things together. Online friendships can end because they aren’t really something where you can do hands-on activities. But online friendships are great if you are introverted or not comfortable going out to socialize. In person, sometimes people take advantage of you if you are shy.

Joanne, 14, TX

NEXT VOICE BOX:

Should the Equal Rights Amendment
be added to the Constitution?

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

An early version of the ERA to the U.S. Constitution was first proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman of the National Women’s Rights Party. It was never passed by Congress.

In 1972 more than 67% of the House of Representatives and the Senate voted in favor of the amendment above. Then the ERA went to the 50 state legislatures. Thirty-eight of the states needed to ratify the amendment before it would become law.

By 1982, the deadline Congress imposed for ratification, 35 states ratified the ERA. Supporters of ERA didn’t give up and in 2020 the 38th state ratified the amendment.

Two years later the ERA is still not law because there is political disagreement about whether or not the 1982 deadline should prevent the ERA from being part of the Constitution.

Tell your opinion about the ERA!

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