Ben's Page

I know this isn’t a uncommon complaint. Interesting to see it looked at so closely.

I scan my Facebook news feed throughout the day, taking stock of the soap opera digest version of my friends’ lives and accomplishments, travails and oddities. Laura changed her relationship status to engaged. Ed joined the group “People who don’t sleep enough because they stay up late for no reason.” Paul just teabagged someone with the Super Poke application.

Who are these people, anyway? High school acquaintances with whom I lost touch before “Titanic” hit theaters and will never reconnect with outside the virtual realm. School classmates I’d love to meet for a drink, except they live on the other side of the world. Time slowly wrenches apart even the strongest ties, and phone calls start to feel like spoken versions of Facebook updates: My relationship status is this, my career status is that, my housing status has changed.

There is a vast gulf between vaguely keeping in touch with someone and actually sharing, experiencing, exploring and all the other things you give and get and take from a close friendship. I find it increasingly difficult to cross over that gulf with those I’m meeting now. It’s a poignant thing to be a full-grown human and realize you’re deficient in something that seems so effortless for children.