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Under ideal circumstances this service would be just another. However, social relationships and

psychology are not so simple. Customers of this service would have soical problems. Only a margin of the market would use this site as a "platonic friendship" site. Majority of users would try to fullfill their need for a real social relationship. This would be a psychologically unhealthy coping strategy for their psychology, and a financial burden for their wallet.

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The emergence of such a concept as 'renting a friend' reflects just how little of an effort people are willing to spend on meeting new people. The implications of needing to pay a random individual on the internet to find companionship are desperate and sad. If people get used to such services,

they will forget how to interact with people in their everyday life.

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The concept of Rent-a-Friend serves as a functional path for finding companions on the surface, but it is crucial to consider the underlying negative impact on societal norms. The normalization of paying for human connection could damage our perception of unrequited bond which is an important aspect of friendships. Although it is a service meant for platonic friendships only, monetizing friendships could negatively affect our moral structure.

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The concept of Rent-a-friend shows how people feel lonely today. These services can help someone feel good in a short period of time, but in the long run, some psychological problems may occur. It can be harmful for societal norms. Society should focus more on genuine and real friendships instead of fake relationships.

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Devin Aral Açık

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renting a friend via companies can be useful in a aspect of finding someone without a concern of availability. It is not only for people who do not have friends but it is for people who cannot find an available friend when they need to do activities. It is quite difficult to arrange time according to someone and especially when you are not very enthusiastic. Rent-a friend solves this problem.

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It would be incorrect to classify rent-a-friend as a dystopian concept, it is nuanced. While it sounds odd that a person would hire someone to be their friend, moreso that someone would sign up to get paid to hang out with a stranger, one should ask themselves where the demand for such a service came from. Maybe it's for immigrants who are having a hard time connecting with their surroundings, or older people who have no one left in their lives. It's certain that this is a niche service, but it's hard to justify that the idea for this business doesn't come from a good place and aims to commodify companionship.

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Services like these can be a real game-changer for people who struggle with deep shyness or social anxiety. By practicing in these structured settings, they can slowly get used to the natural back-and-forth of a conversation and the smaller details of spending time with someone. It acts as a low-stakes 'ice-breaker,' giving them a safe space to work through their social hurdles at their own pace. Ultimately, it’s a helpful way to bridge the gap, helping people feel less like outsiders and more like they actually belong in the world around them.

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Ali Arda Üresin

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The emergence of the 'Rent-a-friend' company could bring several benefits to society. By highlighting its purpose as a local friend to newcomers, the harmful assumption could be eliminated. In this modern era, people sometimes find it difficult to make new friends, especially those who share similar interests and can manage the same schedule. Thus, people might take advantage of it, especially tourists and foreigners. Additionally, this platform could be a starting point for people to start maintaining new friendships.

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The existence of Rent a friend causes some worries about the social conditions of today's society. The commodification of friends, if it has widespread success, may lead to further commercialization of other forms of social interaction. While it may seem like easy access to socialization can help the people who have difficulties with socialization; it may cause their social skills to deteriorate instead. The service provided encourages the "friend" to show false interest and support. This may lead to faulty assumptions, baseless confidence, misunderstandings and artificial echo chambers.

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Having such an site may make our daily lives easier at the first glance. Someone who have different interests from their friends could benefit from such an site. However, the risky part is that there is a commerce happening, by pretending as a companion of someone. I think this commerce part is an obvious exploitation of human relationships and emotions. I believe it would be much more beneficial and naïve if the site was more like a site that people create their profile and according to their interest, they could match. The commerce part is where I do not feel comfortable.

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This website has both positive and negative aspects. For the positive sides, it can be said that it is good for people who feel alone and struggle make friends. But I believe that it is also underestimating the fact that creating special bonds between friends is important. Creating good frinedships is not something that we can do immediately, it is a long process. Also, it is important for people's psychology because making close connection with other people and talking about secrets, dreams, problems in life is a good way of having therapy without taking any professional needs. That is why this website is good for making short-time friends for certain events, but not for creating special bonds.

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Rent-a-Friend is a new concept for today’s society’s needs, because people are getting further away from each other, and spending less time with each other. Therefore, this website can be beneficial for many people if used correctly. For example, if someone wants to try their hand at a new hobby, but have no friends willing to join them, they can rent a friend through this site  and enjoy another person’s company.

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Ceren Kırteke

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The rise of services like Rent-A-Friend showcases a progressive development of social dynamics through technological inventions. Even though the concept is unusual, it generates a novel solution to the issue of finding genuine connections in today’s rapidly changing world by providing a platform to the people in need of a local companion to participate in social life. Still, it is important to remain cautious to the dangers of having an online presence while keeping an open mind to these innovative ideas.

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Rent a Friend raises questions about society's changing social dynamics. The concept of renting a friend can negatively affect the genuine bond between two people and turn frienships into financial transactions. The idea of purchasing when in need can objectify the status of friendship disregarding the natural process of gaining friends.

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Özge Özsabuncu

Rent a friend is a concept that can confuse people. Some people might say that this service is not appropriate for them as they might think a friendship must be geniune. However, others might say that there is not a problem using such a service as it makes it easier to find a companion for those who don’t have anyone. I get both sides because if you use the service for a long lasting friendship, it will not be the case won’t be useful. Yet, if we use it for finding someone to be with us in an event this service is a great option.

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Rent a friend sounded like a bad idea to me at first. However, the more that I read examples of how it can be useful I started to see its value. Now, I believe that it can be a useful service in some cases but this doesn’t mean that human connections and relationships should always be commodified or simplified to economic gain. Additionally, it can also be a nice idea to consider rent-a-friend as a complementary addition to our social life instead of thinking about it as if it has to replace the entirety of our social life and friendships.

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Bexultan Koizhanov (neutral to positive)

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Bexultan Koizhanov (neutral to positive)

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Rent-a-Friend is an innovational milestone in social dynamics of people and their interactions, similar in manner to how internet friendships and social media function. It can offer a unique approach to how people can make acquaintances, connections, and friends to do a certain activity of preference (provided its appropriateness) albeit the monetisation of the site renders it inaccessible to those who who might not be able to afford such services. As an alternative way of managing this site would be to make the website a friendship or volunteering one ensuring the community guidelines are being followed.

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Rent-a-Friend can be seen as a reflection or consequence of an increasingly individualistic world in terms of changing social dynamics. It may provide practical support and solutions for individuals seeking companionship in specific situations. At the same time, it raises important questions about relationships and whether offering payment affects authenticity and sincerity. Consedering both its potential benefits and limitations allows for a more balanced understanding of its role in the contemporary society.

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I think that the concept of ‘Rent-a-Friend’ definitely sounds exciting and interesting. We live in the age of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, where many people already turn to the internet and even to chatbots to find companies for various purposes. I believe that ‘Rent-a-Friend’ could make this process easier and safer for everyone if the necessary precautions are taken. It might be especially beneficial for people with niche interests who cannot find anyone to accompany them. Although the world is becoming increasingly advanced, I believe it is getting harder to find people with whom you can genuinely connect, so this concept could be the solution to this problem.

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Rent a friend might seem like a decay in 21st centuries societies; however we can’t judge such services without the roots in their advents. 21st century made humans more connected than ever, yet as many occurences it has it’s down sides too as of its perks. In the second quarter of 21st century millions of people struggle to find partners, friends or communities due to digitalisation. And we can view rent a friend as a counter idea to this lonliness. Altough rent a friend can’t solve this problem alone, it can be used by people who wants to step into the real world and get rid of the lonliness pandemic of our great century.

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Rent a friend is an app that makes me question the actual nature of friendship. I believe that friendship is not something to be forced. Even though the app offers an incredible opportunity for people who cannot find someone to join them in a specific activity, I don’t think I would enjoy that activity with a stranger whom I meet online. I am a person who cannot fake a friendship just to have a good time or to accomplish a goal. In this case, I would prefer to do it alone.

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The concept of renting a friend might sound unsettling for some people as they expect this concept to harm traditional friendship values in society. However, this Rent a friend can offer a new perspective on friendship without necessarily erasing genuine human interaction as it would be possible to have genuine connections. Rent a friend can also offer a solution for people who struggle to make social connections, providing companionship. I acknowledge the fact that it is not easy to have trust in connections created by Rent a friend, but I think keeping an open mind and being cautious is the best choice.

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The impact of the emergence of such a service can be considered positive or negative on different standing points. However, what is needed to be realized is that this whole service acts against the natüre of friendship and makes it into a paid servitude. Just like respect beyond the basic levels, companionship can't be bought or wanted: It can only be earned. Only through multiple interactions and taking a liking to somebody can we really consider each other friends. Friends don't look for their own benefits while attending to someone else's company, at least not this blatantly.

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The concept of 'Rent-a-Friend' is a controversial one. Since we live in a world where it is very easy to access student clubs and communities about a spesific topic, one may directly find a person with a similar interest. Of course, it does not mean that you may form a strong essence of friendship, but through this platform too, you will only find a plautonic friendship. Nonetheless, for people having hard time socializing or simply does not want to socialize, it might be efficient to access to such a platform to find someone just for a specific occasion.

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The concept of Rent-a-Friend shows the deterioration of the unity of communities. Human beings have always been together, creating cultures and a sense of belonging. With Rent-a-friend, it is now obvious that people have become more individualistic and lacking of the ability to connect with others, eroding the very essence of being an animal. It can be argued whether or not humans should be considered as animals, but no matter the answer, we all can agree on the vital need of connection with others. And this need can only be satiated with genuine bonding.

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Services like “rent-a-friend” are a key indicator of the changing needs and demands of individuals in society. In today’s fast paced and individualistic world, people may tend to feel isolated within community. Such services offer temporary relief to these issues. However, it is important to remember the psychology behind friendships and feelings of companionship. The temporary fix this service offers may fail to satisfy the need for a true friendship built over shared values. In addition, it attributes a monetary value to companionship, which can potentially cause further social issues such as lack of well-built relationships among certain wealthy communities.

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services like rent a friend may be seen as practical in certain contexts, such as helping people overcome loneliness and explore new places. In this sense they can provide a convenient solution for some individuals.

however, the idea of renting a friendship also raises certain concerns. it may blur the line between genuine human connection and commercial transactions. it may potentially reduce friendships to something transactional rather than meaningful.

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The concept of Rent-a-friend causes contradictions among people. I think the reason for the situation comes from the word ‘rent’. It does not sound natural in terms of communication; however, instead of one person giving up on a plan, it offers a solution for those eager to do some activities. I think it is not that threatening to traditional social norms unless people use the service as the ‘only’ communication channel on a daily basis.

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As alienation from labour and thus society at large progresses, more and more areas of our lives are commodified. I think the alienation from personal relations is an alarming aspect of this progression. We should not rent friends or a community because the society which we live in is an affront against human connection, we should change society to fit our needs and nurture us as social beings.

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The website Rent-a-friend offers beneficial bonding opportunity for the every part of the society. The services such as finding an event-friend would solve the problems causing from loneliness. It's crucial to create such projects to deliver support for the people that having hard time to socialize-----Berdan DOĞAN

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The concept of renting a friend may be a good idea for those who may not be able to find companions for certain activities. However, Rent-a-Friend is a business transaction in its essence. Renting someone to do some acitivies is alright, but this does not seem like a real friendship. There is no other feeling attached other than the money that’s been paid. The damage this service may cause to how people think of friendships could be heavy.

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“Rent-a-Friend might be seen as a great innovation for those who are not able to make friends on their own. Nevertheless, when we look at the inner face of the concept, it takes the natural and spontaneous way of building up a friendship and turns it into something artificial and paid, which may make people feel even more lonely instead of helping them.”

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Rent-A-Friend is an intriguing concept that can help individuals find support in today’s fast-paced world. While there may be concerns about genuine connections, Rent-A-Friend is explicit in its goal as simply an aide to find a companion for any activity. This is an excellent idea for individuals who are interested in activities where they cannot find a partner, or just as a convenient way to not be alone at an event. Rent-a-Friend does not take away from real friendships: in fact, it allows people, who may not do so otherwise, to be more outgoing and be able to socialize more comfortably.

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I agree that Rent-a-Friend service illustrate today's dynamics are increasingly entering personal borders such as friendship. In modern societies where loneliness is common, such platforms provide a practical solution by offering accessible companionship. Rather than undermining friendship, this can be seen as an adaptive response to changing social needs, and they can establish new friendships via this service maybe.

Meryem Kablan