When I was interested in my now boyfriend we would talk in person a lot but we would also communicate through FaceBook and AIM. Social media was part of the courtship process in our relationship. Before we started dating I was in a joke relationship with one of my guy friends, we were “married” on face book. So when my boyfriend and I stated dating I didn’t change my status and he changed his to in a relationship. Then one day a friend of mine ran up to me and said “ why did you and your boyfriend break up?” Utterly confused I asked her to explain why she thought we had broken up, Her response “ because his FaceBook status says single” Needless to say this ended in a small fight about how he couldn’t just broadcast to the world that he was single if we were dating. It’s really silly to think about but it did mean something to me and other people what his status was.
I have a relationship with one friend from when I lived in Canada that is completely dependent on Instant Messaging, FaceBook and e-mail. He was one of my bet friends growing up and we lost contact after I moved to Ohio. At least 11 years later we reconnected via face book and Instant Messaging. If it were not for these social media outlets the two of us would not be friends. We have been able to visit and keep a friendship afloat through this communication even though the two of us live in different countries.
I’m beating a dead horse but social media has changed the way we relate to each other and has changed how we define those relationships. After all if we are not friends on FaceBook…how good can our friendship really be?
Cheers,
JoJo
JoJo while we have heard this before, I think that you raise a good question here. We joke about "well it's not Facebook official," but really, if we meet someone and make friends with them, we will likely find him or her on Facebook rather than exchange phone numbers. To other generations, this practice is probably a bit strange, but to us, Facebook (and other social media) is just our way of communicating. As multi-taskers, social media is great for us millenials because we can message, chat, and write on the walls of multiple people at multiple times. Even texting is that dimensional. So, I think this topic is always something to be talked about and examined.
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