Drifting Apart to Be Closer

Greetings!

Let me start off by saying that this is my first blog (but definitely not the last). I know that I am coming to the party a little late, and I am still not quite sure why I did not blog before. I am one that has always kept up with technology, I am obsessed with gadgets and new advancements, and I always welcome change. I think that one of the main things that kept me away from blogging was the fact that I did not think there would be enough interest in me by virtual strangers, and I also did not want to stroke my own ego more than it already gets stroked. But one of the main reasons was probably the fact that I did not want to enrich my 'online' persona at the cost of my actual life. As a member of the ME generation, I am often startled at how distanced we are becoming from one another every day. And don't get me wrong--it's not because we do not want to communicate face to face, but because there are so many ways that we can avoid real conversations, and real communications. In fact, we are likely to be singled out if we don't join the bandwagon of Facebook or Twitter. These technologies are extremely helpful when we are trying to keep in touch with people that are not in our immediate circles of friends, such as distant acquaintances. There are always people in our lives that we know only in passing and keeping up with what they are up to through Facebook, or dropping the occasional "Like It" on their Facebook status is just fine. But then there are also the people that we consider our nearest and dearest friends, and it is these relationships that Facebook and other mediums of communication affect the most.

I, obviously, have a Facebook account. The list of friends is quite moderate--does not exceed 100, and I am quite picky about who gets on that list. I do not ask virtual strangers to friend me, and I have been known to decline friend requests from people that I don't know in real life. I recently increased the privacy levels of my profile and currently only my friends can see my profile. I was highly disturbed by the idea that one of my students would stumble upon my profile and see me ranting about all the grading or prep I have to do, or anything else for that matter. And I will be the first one to admit that I post status updates too often, but after spending the entire day in four walls, it is really tempting to think that you can communicate with one of your "friends" through a post.

The downside of Facebook posts is that it really stifles regular communication with actual friends. Conversations with friends have often come to a screeching halt because of status updates or posts. It usually goes along the lines of, "So, I was walking around in the store yesterday, when" and a friend says, "Oh, I know, I read your status update." It can be quite disturbing, because growing up my main form of communication was in person or over the phone. These days communication is limited to keyboard strokes and mouse clicks. I have gone through days when my phone hasn't rung once, but I have been completely up to date with everything that happens with all my friends, and they know exactly what I am up to. I still use my phone to text, e-mail and even update that Facebook profile. But I think the phone feature on our phones is becoming obsolete--after all, the line "Can I have your number?" is turning into "I'm gonna friend you on Facebook."

Lilly Berberyan