We tend to think of friendship as something that money can’t buy, something that evolves naturally and that you need to make a little effort to keep alive…right? Well not necessarily so, as I discovered last week with the launch of a new UK website. This site allows you to purchase friendship and rent friends online and, if it works in the UK, a launch in France will surely not be far behind.
The website, Rentafriend.com, has been created to help people find ‘friends’ to hang out with. Of course, this is not all done out of the goodness of the site owner’s heart; you have to pay a membership fee to join, and when you find a friend, you have to pay him or her by the hour.
For someone who moves country or is visiting a new city, this could a good idea. It can sometimes be difficult to meet people when you arrive somewhere, and exploring a new area can be very lonely. But, if you’re staying somewhere long term, what about joining a night class or taking up a sport to meet new people? Maybe if the website said "companion" instead of “friend” it would be more appropriate.
For me, this is another example of how everything can be commoditised today and the ‘friendship market’ (how much of an oxymoron is that?) is just another way to make profit from people’s loneliness. Rather than creating a connection with someone, the service can in fact completely disconnect you from real life and real relationships.
I’m currently reading a very humorous book by Lawrence Block called ‘Hit and Run’ about an agency where you can rent your own ‘personal killer’ to bump off, for example, an annoying neighbour or unfaithful husband. It’s very entertaining, but of course it’s pure fiction…or is it? In today’s consumer society where whatever you want is only a few clicks away, Rentakiller.com may be coming to a town near you very soon.
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