Everyone needs friends. And I’m not talking about the folks who have clicked on your Facebook friend button. To me, a friend is somebody that you actually call up and talk to. Somebody who you meet for a drink, or go out and do something with. Somebody who you actually spend time with, face...
Sometimes class reunions are a big hassle. First of all, as each 5-year milestone from when you graduated comes around, there is a collective groan from all of the old schoolmates. Here it comes again…I can’t believe another 5 years has gone by…I must be getting really old. That’s just the start of it....
One of the best things about social media is that it’s free. As long as you have a computer and an Internet connection, you’re good to go. You don’t even need to own this stuff—a visit to most local libraries is all it takes to log onto your account and start interacting with your...
I had an interesting discussion the other day with a friend I’ve known for awhile. He wasn’t a fellow alumnus of my high school—I attended Cinnaminson High—but, according to him, as his father used to say, we went to different schools together. I graduated in 1971, and he graduated in 1972 from a high...
Mini reunions are fun, but class reunions can be a big hassle. That’s right—sometimes those big, formal class reunions can become a major headache for everyone involved, including the old schoolmates who choose to attend it. Don’t get me wrong here. I think it’s exceptionally important for schoolmates to get together and to reconnect....
I think that the backlash against social media—a misnomer, by the way—is almost upon us. The reality is that social media isn’t really all that social. Yes, I have a FaceBook page, as do many of my generation these days. (For the record, I graduated from Cinnaminson High in 1971.) I post to it infrequently, and I’m definitely not obsessed with it.
I have 3 grown children, all college grads, who also all have FaceBook pages, as you’d expect. But, according to them at least, the novelty is wearing off somewhat. Yes, many of the younger generation still use social media sites as their primary form of communication. But that’s what it is—communication. It’s not really socializing, the way it once was.
And that, I believe, is a good thing. Because as far as I’m concerned, social media isn’t really all that social. (I’ll be posting my recent article about this very topic here shortly.) Think about it for a minute. How can sitting in front of a keyboard and monitor possibly be social? In my opinion, that is the epitome of being anti-social.
Being social—socializing in other words—requires actually being with people. Mingling and talking, face to face. Even the telephone, which is still better than hiding out online, takes a far second place to actually getting together with someone.
The problem of course is that oftentimes meeting up with people is inconvenient. It gets in the way of how we’ve scheduled our day, and in a broader sense, our life. And that’s a shame. Because from my perspective, the quality of our lives is totally predicated upon the quality of our relationships.
So what do we do about this?
Anybody who’s been out of school for a few years knows all about class reunions. They’re a standard part of life after school. They can also be stressful, inconvenient, expensive, and not all that much fun. That’s why I’m such a big fan of mini reunions.
A mini reunion is a less formal, less expensive and much more fun way to get together. If you haven’t already guessed it, I’m a huge fan of the mini reunion. I’ve even started a website to promote them, and to help my readers to enjoy them. (Check it out here:
And by the way, it’s totally free.)
I consider myself to be a mini reunion expert because as the years go by, I’ve come to realize how important it is to connect—and stay connected—to the people I know. It really is what life is all about. And I’ve also come to realize that connecting online isn’t really connecting at all.
I am dedicating my personal blog to all of those people out there that understand the importance of these old relationships, and who are interested in reconnecting as well.
Link to Steve’s Blog
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