Short Circuit.

short circuit

Are Twitter, texting, and cyberspace chatting ruining your friendships? Rachel Simmons investigates.

When Bianca,*nineteen, and her best friend from high school moved to different colleges a thousand miles apart, they swore to stay close. For a while, they kept in touch with daily phone calls, texts, MySpace updates, and e-mails. Lately, though, Bianca's been watching her friend drift away. "I remember the first time she changed her profile picture onlinewhich was of me and herto a picture of her with her new best friend," says the New Jersey native. "I see their statuses about each other and their videos. I feel like I'm being replaced."

From Twitter to text messaging, technology no longer simply connects girlsit plays an integral part in their friendships. But it's also unleashing new kinds of conflict and new ways to get hurt. "Web sites like Facebook and MySpace allow girls to name …