If you haven’t noticed by now or have been living under a rock over the past year, we have become a very technology-based society. Everyone including your grandmother and youngest niece/nephew has a smartphone (Regular cellphones are practically non-existent now) and have some form of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, etc.). We can connect with the world and get updated on news quicker than any standard newspaper. Heck, it’s almost gotten to the point where you can get news quicker on social media than on television. Speaking of television, most people are now turning to services like Netflix and Hulu Plus for their mobile devices to get their entertainment as opposed to sitting down and watching TV. Social media is one of the best and worst creations mankind has ever produced, but that’s for a different day to discuss.
While social media has changed the way we operate around the world, one thing that shouldn’t go away is personal communication. That means stepping away from social media, getting out, and actually meeting people face-to-face and having a great time without having to check your social media messages all the time. One of the best traditions of face-to-face communication that social media can’t replace is reunions.
Reunions are gatherings of people you haven’t seen in quite some time. The most common are high school reunions. Let’s face it, when you graduate from high school, unless there’s been a big change in your life, you would have spent 13 years with your classmates. At that point, they go beyond just classmates and friends, they became family. After your high school graduation, everyone goes off to do different things, aka “enter the real world”. When you get noticed that you have a high school reunion coming up, usually people get excited and nervous because some of them you haven’t seen in quite some time, usually 10 years. Yes, you talk to them on social media and have seen their photos and such, but it’s not the same as actually getting to talk to them face-to-face. I’m personally experiencing this feeling of anticipation as my own 10-year reunion is approaching in a couple of weeks, and some of my classmates I’ve literally haven’t seen them since high school graduation. The feeling to see some of my classmates after nearly a decade is going to be something that social media just can’t duplicate, no matter how advanced it can (and in all honesty WILL) get.
Social media is a good thing to keep in touch. Reunions are the best way to truly be social. Either attend one or if you get the urge to get your buddies together, do it! Social media can only go so far when it comes to truly bring people together.
