FWB. It is certainly a new term to us Millennials. Something probably coined by the Gen Z and Gen Alpha crowd. I can certainly see the err.. umm… “benefits” and I’m perhaps even a tad bit jealous of these guys who have successfully negotiated these err.. working arrangements.
During our heydays, the benefits associated with friends (especially friends from the opposite gender) merely consisted of some furious late night texting sessions, occasional phone calls and the rare (non-existent in my case) meet-ups at the movies. The more daring ones learned various mountaineering techniques in order to overcome the obstacles to their love affair’s successful fruition – namely a tall compound wall, steep pipelines leading to the 1st floor balcony etc. Perhaps during our time, the distinctions were rather clear – there was the friend, and there was the girl you had a “crush” on. The primary purpose of the ‘friend’ in this case was to help you win the other ‘friend’s’ heart.
Those were simpler times I suppose. Perhaps today there are multiple ‘friends’. And although you start out talking to these “friends” in the hope of landing the other “friend”, the goal posts in this case keeps shifting. And sometimes you entertain yourself with these “friends” in the interim until that “one friend” finally confirms that “it’s not you; it’s me” or that “you’ll find someone better”. But by then some “friends” and perhaps you yourself develop feelings for some other “friends” making this more complicated than a Christopher Nolan movie (I’m on the 11th attempt, still trying to figure out Interstellar).
Having seen most of this second hand, (or is it third hand? Maybe it should be called a leg then?), I reckon it’s best to have Friends without any benefits whatsoever. But perhaps a little “benefit” never hurt anyone. Thoughts?
