What Does It Mean to Connect?

Something that has been heavily on my mind since I made the decision to leave Facebook is connection. I goofed earlier today and did a factory reset without backing up my contacts and that forced me to get back on FB in order to leave a post asking people to text me their numbers. Well, that opened me up to text messages of disbelief, why and how could, and would I be joining another social media site like Google+. And, sadly some people thought I was breaking up with them. Like I mentioned yesterday, just because I'm leaving a site doesn't mean I'm severing our connection.

I see it like this, I moved a shit ton of times when I was a kid. Yet, I still maintained those connections. And gasp! there was no such thing as FB back then. Hell, the internet was barely around. I think Facebook (to be honest) is a great way to keep in touch with someone. But, I also think it gives people the means to be lazy. No, hear me out. I have met and kept up with some amazing people online. But (and I know it's NOT  just me who does this) I have managed to keep up my connections with these people offline. I have a friend who in the course of the 5 or more years we've known each other who has moved over from the East Coast to the West Coast keep in contact with me on the regular despite the fact we've never met face to face. So it's possible.

This isn't to give anyone who uses FB any shit. I'm just tired of people giving me shit about it. I truly don't have any future plans to return. Yes, it's true I tend to leave and come back, but I just can't do that anymore. Yeah, I'd like to keep up with everyone, but I just can't do it anymore. The older I get, the more introverted I'm becoming and I just want to be alone.

So what does it mean to connect? For me connection is any means of keeping in touch, but not left solely to only one form. This is not the 1700s where folks only had horseback riders and pigeons to carry messages.