More Connected with Technology IS More Connected

Anyone who knew me before I joined Facebook knows that I didn’t want to join Facebook. I thought it was too invasive.

Here’s me blogging to the world about it!

It didn’t help that a stalkerish ex-boyfriend from a millions years ago had already tried to find me through my brother on Facebook. It creeped me out. I had no interest in reconnecting with the one guy from my past who treated me the worst. Seriously. It would be like saying, “Hello, Food Poisoning, sure I’ll have some more. While you’re at it, pull my fingernails out.” NOT.

It kept me off the internet.

I missed out on reconnecting with my friends and hearing news from family. Didn’t anyone make phone calls anymore?

Even when my uncle created a closed family group on Facebook, I still didn’t join for another five months.

My mom and sister were friends on Facebook with more of my friends than I could count.

My sorority sisters were connected again while I disappeared off the grid…until about a year and a half ago. I’d had enough of missing out.

If I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have seen awesome posts like this one:

Diana Beebe's Blog, Diana Beebe, science fiction, middle grade fantasy, fantasy
Used with Rebekah’s permission. Everyone else was removed for their own privacy.

Oh, the early 1990s! Big hair and film photography!

Rebekah and I were close. We studied together. We went to parties and mixers together. We propped each other up when dates fell through, which happened a lot. (Who chooses to attend a university where the girl-to-guy ratio is 4:1!?) There is one picture of us after we both got dumped by a couple of frat boys from a different university–yeah, no, I can’t share that one.

I digress…

Are we really less connected because of technology these days?

Don’t count those moments where at entire family sits around looking at their phones rather than having a conversation (seen it!), because that’s a different scenario.

And sure people don’t write letters anymore.

But we get to be present with each other in ways that we’ve never been able to do before. Rebekah took this old photograph of us and posted it on Facebook. I laughed and remembered getting ready for that party more than the party itself. We didn’t have money to spend on outfits, so we went to a thrift store. We found one long skirt and turned it into to two mini-skirts! Our friends and roommates posted comments about their fond memories of the event.

Even though it’s been over 21 years since we took that photograph, we used technology to reminisce with many of our friends. Try doing that with a simple letter or even an email or a text message.

I’m glad I finally joined Facebook and can instant message friends and neighbors. I hope my family members are sitting down while they read this so they don’t fall over. 😀

I have two more connection stories to tell. Coming soon! Both prove technology helps us connect with other people in ways we couldn’t have before!

Do you have any Facebook stories of reconnecting with old friends?  I’d love to hear your stories!

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