An untrustworthy friend is an oxymoron.

Recently I received an e-mail from a stranger that wanted to be my friend. He probably didn't know I'm an old guy, and I don't have strangers as friends.

Last year, we had a file on Generation Y in which we mentioned the people of this generation have 100 friends, many of which are not trustworthy. Our inference was that this group generally has trouble with trust.

Friendship has recently taken on a new meaning. The face-to-face friendship experience now competes with a new definition of a "friend"who is technically just a casual internet acquaintance; one that is simply another name on a long internet-contacts list.

The New Oxford American Dictionary selected "unfriend" as the word of the year. The word reflects the impact of social networking on modern vocabulary. Young people now know how to attack the problem of an untrustworthy friend: use the delete key.

-Jim