Recently, I had a friend who had a lot of exciting things happen in her life in a short amount of time. Her man decided that he should “lock it up” and put a ring on it, she was accepted into grad school and bought a house with her future husband-to-be all within three months of each other. All of these things that are super exciting and things that I wished was happening for me. Things that I would be shouting off the rooftops about to everyone around and bombarding my friends with! The problem with this is, I found out about all of these events happening to her via social media.
To me, this just seems odd. With close relationships, I feel as if you should tell those people first, as if not to catch them off guard, but it seems as though this is a dying trend. At first, I questioned if our friendship was on the rocks for her failing to inform me of all of these good things. I had mentioned to my friend about this in a roundabout way, not trying to make this about myself or that I was upset, but just to figure out why would you not tell your “best friends” before you tell your second cousin twice removed and all other social media followers? She said she figures if she is going to tell everyone, they might as well find out the same way. Save some time and effort by just putting it in one place. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel personally victimized by social media?
I have said it before and I will say it again, when did social media become this substitute for social interaction? When something good happens in my life, I want the ones that I love to be the first to know. My phone needs to be recharged again and again because I am excited to tell my friends and family when something good happens. Not just update my Facebook status or post a picture on Instagram to the millions of strangers in the world out there. I want the people I love to personally know what is happening in my life, so they feel included in my life.
I just feel as though there is this disconnect with social interaction and friendship when it comes to social media. Why is it that the girl you drunkenly once met at a bar with your ex-best friend gets to find out he put a ring on it the same way I do? I know that might sound a little selfish and as if I’m just upset at the way my friend handles her “announcements”, but it seems to be the going trend of pushing out this intimate act of telling close friends before telling the world. Why bother telling anyone on the phone when they can just open an app and see it along with the others?
I miss the old days when you had to pick up the phone to communicate to people. Not with gifs or “pokes” on Facebook, but to have an actual conversation between real life humans. An interaction that involved face to face contact, as well as hearing about exciting events, versus just reading about them online. Can’t we end this the same way as in Mean Girls with Regina George and just take out Facebook with a bus? If you are one of those people who like to post things before telling your friends, take a moment to think about how you could be hurting your relationships. Social media popularity is easy to come by, friendships are not.
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