Okay, I feel a little silly writing about this but it's my blog so I shall. I know there have to be other people like me out there who have to compartmentalize everything in their life. From clothes (dress, dress casual, casual, work-out, etc) or other things that don't necessarily need to be placed into a category but I do it anyways because I kind of see my brain as a desk and everything needs to be properly filed in its rightful place. I've been thinking a lot about friendships, past and present and how I am going to "file" them away.
I wouldn't say that I am extremely social but I have met a lot of people and made a lot of friends in my life thus far. The challenge has been how do I properly sort out all of these friends? I used to have three categories; friends, good friends and best friends. I no longer categorize my friendships into three because those good friends can become just 'friends' or 'best friends' within one action or one trying moment. A 'friend' is not somebody who only contacts you when they want or need something, that person does not even fall into the category of 'acquaintance'.
Then I have friends on Tumblr. My Tumblr is like my mental and artistic outlet. I post personal thoughts and feelings on it and it appeals very much to my mind. I have been lucky enough to acquire a nice group of followers. Do these people know me better than my Facebook friends because I post about the inner-workings of my mind on Tumblr? Perhaps. I don't think I would add most of these people on Facebook though because I've never met them face-to-face. I would consider some of my followers friends because I do have a rapport with them but for some reason, it doesn't feel right to be a Facebook 'friend'.
Friendship is complicated; it comes in all shapes and forms nowadays. As we become a more materialistic and greedy society, it seems as though having true friends is becoming more of a rarity. Ideally, I would not mind having a small group of friends who I was very close with and that's it, but for many reasons, I keep everybody else around on Facebook. I'm not one to constantly reminisce about the past but I am in a perpetual state of nostalgia and that makes it hard to let go of old friends. In a way, I see social media as a hindrance towards becoming an adult because we hold on to many old friends; doing so keeps us from moving on in life and becoming an adult. But then we all know how amazing social media is. We are the first generation to be able to keep our collection of friendships and other relationships that we have acquired through our life in a few places, be it Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Google+ or whatever other medium we have.
I will continue to use social media heavily as I love the feeling of being part of something bigger than me but for a person who needs to file every little thing in my mental filing cabinet, social networking confuses the whole system!
P.S. sorry for the abrupt ending, I'm not good at concluding my thoughts effectively.
I wouldn't say that I am extremely social but I have met a lot of people and made a lot of friends in my life thus far. The challenge has been how do I properly sort out all of these friends? I used to have three categories; friends, good friends and best friends. I no longer categorize my friendships into three because those good friends can become just 'friends' or 'best friends' within one action or one trying moment. A 'friend' is not somebody who only contacts you when they want or need something, that person does not even fall into the category of 'acquaintance'.
So how does on categorize people in the world of social media? This is super complicated! I have friends on Facebook from just about every period of my life. I have friends that I was friends with for one year when I was in kindergarten to people I have known literally my entire life. Then there are those people who I may have met one time who added me and some people I have never even spoken to before, who just randomly added me. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to my Facebook account. I don't want people added as my 'friend' unless I actually know them or have known them. I recently weeded out about 30-40 people on it so I am now left with around 450 people on my friends list. Are these people all my friends? Not really. I have a rule, if I see you in person and don't speak to you, then there is no reason why we should share the intimate details of our lives to one another on a not-so private website. But then what happens if you de-friend somebody? It's almost like saying that you feel apathy towards that person or feelings of disdain; and that may not be the case. Do we have to add all of our friends on that site to solidify a friendship? Maybe, maybe not. By not being friends with somebody on Facebook, I know they will not know a lot of information about me so how can they really be my friend? If they don't care about what they're missing out on, how can I call them my friend?
Then I have friends on Tumblr. My Tumblr is like my mental and artistic outlet. I post personal thoughts and feelings on it and it appeals very much to my mind. I have been lucky enough to acquire a nice group of followers. Do these people know me better than my Facebook friends because I post about the inner-workings of my mind on Tumblr? Perhaps. I don't think I would add most of these people on Facebook though because I've never met them face-to-face. I would consider some of my followers friends because I do have a rapport with them but for some reason, it doesn't feel right to be a Facebook 'friend'.
Friendship is complicated; it comes in all shapes and forms nowadays. As we become a more materialistic and greedy society, it seems as though having true friends is becoming more of a rarity. Ideally, I would not mind having a small group of friends who I was very close with and that's it, but for many reasons, I keep everybody else around on Facebook. I'm not one to constantly reminisce about the past but I am in a perpetual state of nostalgia and that makes it hard to let go of old friends. In a way, I see social media as a hindrance towards becoming an adult because we hold on to many old friends; doing so keeps us from moving on in life and becoming an adult. But then we all know how amazing social media is. We are the first generation to be able to keep our collection of friendships and other relationships that we have acquired through our life in a few places, be it Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Google+ or whatever other medium we have.
I will continue to use social media heavily as I love the feeling of being part of something bigger than me but for a person who needs to file every little thing in my mental filing cabinet, social networking confuses the whole system!
P.S. sorry for the abrupt ending, I'm not good at concluding my thoughts effectively.
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