It's always an amusing circumstance to get in touch with someone you have not seen or spoken to in years. If there is one reason to be pleased about the growth of digital networking communities and the social medium presented to us in this generation, it's the ability to FIND (as well as be FOUND) by people. These people come in all forms:
-the guy who never talked to you in high school
-the ex boyfriends/girlfriends
-extended relatives
-old best friends
-people you worked with at that one summer job
and then some.
But this is all stuff you already are familiar with I imagine, as many people are. You might even fall into one of the above categories for someone else. I bring it up because I want to draw a line. There is a gigantic difference between clicking "Request to Add Friend" on Facebook, and a face-to-face run in by chance or time to catch up over coffee/drinks. How has the meaning of "keep in touch" changed? Social media makes it so EASY...but equally, if not more, impersonal. As a twenty-something college student who moved 9 hours from her hometown and transferred colleges in the midst of it all, I have done my fair share of "keeping in touch". Yet it often feels meaningless. I was reminded of the glaring contrast of online interactions and those conducted in person while home for winter break this past January. While out downtown with a good friend, I met up with someone I haven't actually seen since my first year of college about four and a half years ago. It was bizarre. Pleasant, but bizarre. Real. Nothing can ever satifyingly replace reality.
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Completely agree with this.
ReplyDelete:)
I advise students now for the University at Buffalo (and actually found your blog via facebook) and my colleagues are afraid that tech will eventually replace them. There is NOTHING that can replace personal interaction and when you want the best interactions thats how it is going to have to be.
Best