Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With all the social media like twitter, Facebook etc out there, everyone already knows what you've been up to and how your life is going. I have accounts with both but have visited them minimally over the past two years and I am so glad I have. Here's why.
Over the holiday season I bumped into 2 previous co workers and 3 long time friends. Because I hadn't been keeping in touch via social media we had a LOT to catch up on. This led to a total of about 9 hours of sitting, drinks and reminiscing. It was a wonderful surprise and we had many things to talk about and catch up on like changes in jobs, relationships etc. The best part is being able to see and hear the expression when we spoke of certain things.
Bottom line is social media takes away the excitement of meeting up with old friends. If they already know what's going on in your life, what do you have to talk about, what do you have to look forward to? Do you resort to gossip because you have already said your peace online and have nothing more to discuss?
Not everyone is on social media. Face to face conversations are a much better way of catching up on what's new, and reminiscing about old times. Sometimes, though, it feels strange and there's nothing to talk about. That's how you know it wasn't a real friendship in the first place.
I’ve usually talked about things of common interest like work, school or social life of common friends. I try not to talk about politics, religion or negative subjects. Normally we’ll catch up on the past and cover a little of the present times and what’s been happening in each of our lives. And no I don’t use Facebook or twitter,,,,, never did and I don’t need to start now.
We talk about other friends and classmates, our families and what we've been up to since......
My high school has a reunion every July for anybody who has ever graduated from there, with special notice to every 5 and 10 year classes. (For this year it would be 2011, 2006, 2001, etc. The oldest was an alumnus from 1934. But the numbers each year are dwindling, mainly because of the internet, not just social media. When this first started, 15+ years ago there were over 200 attendants. Now that everybody has everybody else's email addresses, etc. they are keeping up with each other more.
With all the social media like twitter, Facebook etc out there, everyone already knows what you've been up to and how your life is going. I have accounts with both but have visited them minimally over the past two years and I am so glad I have. Here's why.
Over the holiday season I bumped into 2 previous co workers and 3 long time friends. Because I hadn't been keeping in touch via social media we had a LOT to catch up on. This led to a total of about 9 hours of sitting, drinks and reminiscing. It was a wonderful surprise and we had many things to talk about and catch up on like changes in jobs, relationships etc. The best part is being able to see and hear the expression when we spoke of certain things.
Bottom line is social media takes away the excitement of meeting up with old friends. If they already know what's going on in your life, what do you have to talk about, what do you have to look forward to? Do you resort to gossip because you have already said your peace online and have nothing more to discuss?
Thoughts anyone?
Hi Nikki
Well I'm 31 and I DONT use Facebook or Twitter for example for the exact reason you stated, if I want to talk to someone I ring them or even better when I arrange to meet someone I haven't seen in a while I get to catch up and talk about loads
I met up with old friends the other week. One on social, one who posts rarely. After we finished up the catching up we talked abou crazy stuff that happened at work, dealing with work politics, sexism in academia, bro culture in tech, economic inequality and housing prices.
There is always plenty to talk about: books, society, pop culture...
....Bottom line is social media takes away the excitement of meeting up with old friends. If they already know what's going on in your life, what do you have to talk about, what do you have to look forward to? Do you resort to gossip because you have already said your peace online and have nothing more to discuss?
Thoughts anyone?
I don't mess with FB and Twitter, but I email with friends often. I am an American who has emigrated to Europe, so when I see friends face-to-face there has been a gap of many, many years of that kind of contact.
My experience as I look it over seem to divide rather neatly into two categories. I have friends who always talk about their daily lives and nothing else in email. They do the same when we meet, it is just a more detailed version of what I have heard in the past.
I have other friends who tend to skim over the events of their daily life in email, and spend more time talking about something that interests them, be it a book, some entertainment they saw, political developments, etc. When we have reconnected face-to-face I get a lot of fill-in on their bios, but much of the time has been spent in extended conversations about books, idea, etc.
I have learned that when I introduce people in the first group to my European friends that I have to make it a cup of coffee or something quick because they have a hard time going beyond their daily lives and conversation can get rather tortured. With people in the second group there is no problem because they can have conversations at length that are not about their daily lives, so the fact that someone is Portuguese or German is of far less concern.
So, in my experience what happens seems to be dependent upon whether the person has many interests outside of their own activities.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
