I started using electronic communication earlier than most - I think I sent my first email in 1983, and by 1987 was juggling several email addresses. I graduated in high school before most people had computers, but by the time I graduated college, America Online was covering the planet with floppy disks... As a result, I have kept in electronic touch with some college friends for ~18 years, but most high school friends have deteriorated to faded memories.
Thanks to social networks like Facebook, I'm running into more and more friends from high school, as well as acquaintances in college that I could have easily never heard from again. The contact is nice, but saying "hey - how are you doing?" when referring to the last 20+ years seems... trite. We need some new societal convention to handle this - something that acknowledges the passage of time that will include the highs of weddings and children, the lows of funerals and lost relationships, and all the little 'life events' in between. Something along the lines of "How is your journey through life going?", but without sounding like some Jedi philosophy.
Thanks to social networks like Facebook, I'm running into more and more friends from high school, as well as acquaintances in college that I could have easily never heard from again. The contact is nice, but saying "hey - how are you doing?" when referring to the last 20+ years seems... trite. We need some new societal convention to handle this - something that acknowledges the passage of time that will include the highs of weddings and children, the lows of funerals and lost relationships, and all the little 'life events' in between. Something along the lines of "How is your journey through life going?", but without sounding like some Jedi philosophy.
