When you travel, or move, it's normal
for relationships to wither and die. Without regular in-person
contact, the will to hold on to the connection gets weak. In light of
this, applications such as Facebook seem to have a way of artificially
keeping a dying relationship alive. Is the tether between two people,
based on electronic communication, of the same quality as regular
face-to-face contact?
The first time I came to Spain, I made
great, great friends at Sunseed. Back then, I wasn't on Facebook, so
I tried to email once in a while. After a couple of
exchanges, we let it go. I hold on to wonderful memories, and
I have pictures that make me smile everytime I look at them.
Then I signed up for Facebook. As I
made friends along the way, I added some to my account. I have moved
a lot over the past few years, and some people have moved in and out
of my life. Every few months, I “cleanse” my list of friends. I
sometimes delete people I'm 99% sure I'll never see again, because I
don't see any point in viewing snapshots of their lives. I don't have
a need to know what's happening with them. We shared a part of our
lives with each other, and now we've gone on separate paths. In my
opinion, it's artificial to hold on to an electronic connection with
someone and claim them as your “friend”, without ever seeing them
in person. Even though years go by between visits to Canada, I still
maintain my connection with my Canadian friends because I know I'll
see them again in person.
See you soon! |
I've had a few negative comments from
people I've dropped from my account. Yet I haven't seen these people
in person for an extremely long time, and I doubt I'll ever see them
again. Perhaps one day, if we do bump into each other, we'll rekindle
the friendship. But it'll have to be over coffee, and not over the
internet.
Do you agree with this blog post? Or do you think I'm a cold-hearted *****? Share your comments below!
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