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Ahmed Naji
Dr. Gayle
February 24, 2015
English 812
Immigration: Friend Or Foe
Would you say that friends are an essential part of YOUR life? For an Immigrant,
arriving to the United States usually consists of a new start. The hardest part about being
an Immigrant is making friends. Immigration comes with a broad of difficulties, but the
most difficult part of being an immigrant is making new friend. The benefits of having
friends, and connections would not only help out an immigrant to stay informed, but also
friends with a knowledge of the American system can help immigrants immensely. As a
result, this essay will discuss why it is so difficult to make friends in the U.S, and why
friends are very beneficial for Survival in the U.S.
In Todays world, with all the technology involved social interactions has lessened
greatly. With the existence of Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Furthermore, people are less happy as a result of all of these Social Networks. This is
important for Immigrants, because as people become less social interactions with people
in the real world lessons (Grieg). This leaves less options for an Immigrant, because even
if they did know how to use social networks, it would not be reliable.
People limit the daily interactions, and Technology has become a huge part of
civilization. In the U.S. social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter are used on a very
frequent basis. As a result, one would think that Immigrants would be able to use the

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social media sites as a medium to meet new people, and possibly form friendship that can
hopefully be everlasting. However, social media has proved to be not as effective as we
think, as Niedzviecki described his experience with social media (A Professional Writer
who wrote an article about online interactions) where he invited a huge amount of people
to a Party he wanted to organize in order to meet new people, and possibly catch up with
friends. The Party was a dramatic failure, because even though 15 people pressed the
button that would indicate they would definitely be going, and 60 more going with the
casual maybe, a grand total of one Person showed up.
The social dynamic behind making friends is also limited, as sometimes people
depend on their friends in order to make new friends. Immigrants generally wouldnt
know many people, and as a result an Immigrant family might end up being socially
isolated because they just wouldnt have anyone to talk to. The drawbacks of not having
at least a few friends can be quite crippling as friends can provide important knowledge
to Immigrants who may not know much about their new environment, not to mention the
language barrier that would be involved as well.
Financial Stability also plays a very important role in making new friends and
meeting people. Meeting people is a crucial process of making new friends, and when
new immigrants are not able to even pay for necessities, they are certainly not able to go
to places they might be interested in. Randy Capps, who is currently the Director of
Research for U.S. Programs at the Migration Policy Institute, did a study on the topic of
Children Immigrants. The data in Cappss study shows that one in four child immigrants
live in a poor family. This would make the Children unable to go out with other kids and
be able to connect that way. Obviously, friends are also very important for Children, and

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the inability to socialize with other children through other means of school can be very
crippling in terms of making new friends.
The socials medias failure to provide Immigrants with a dependable way to meet
new people limits the option of Immigrants even further. Meeting, and Greeting people
can differ in different countries, for example in some countries people kiss each other on
the cheek (Strutner), In the United states, there are no such initiate interactions. As a
result, if someone engages in such an interaction he/she will be labeled as creepy
instead of friendly. Thus proving that different cultures and different meet and greets.
Thus proving that meeting new people for someone from another country or culture can
be quite difficult. The difference of language, political, and religious views can also be
restricting.
In conclusion, it can be inferred that Immigrants can have very limited social
interactions whether its because of financial inability or the barrier of language. The
progress of technology has only matter worse, as it is becoming a trend that people
become less social as technology evolves. The different cultures and belief systems of
Immigrants can have a strong negative impact on their social interactions, because people
in different cultures deal with each other differently, from greetings, to what is considered
a compliment or an insult. This is why making friends is the most difficult aspect of being
an Immigrant.

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Works Cited:
Niedzviecki, Hal. Facebook in a Crowd. The New York Times. The New York
Times , 25 Oct. 2008. Web. 28 Jan. 2015
Strutner, Suzy. "How To Non-Awkwardly Greet People From Different Countries." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Capps, Randy. "Selected Bibliography." Hardship among Children of Immigrants:
Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families 14.2, Children of
Immigrant Families (2004): n. pag. 1 Feb. 2001. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Greig, Alex. "All the Lonely Facebook Friends: Study Shows Social Media Makes Us
MORE Lonely and Unhappy and LESS Sociable." Mail Online. Associated
Newspapers, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.