Assumably, if one is reading this blog, they will be familiar, however begrudgingly, with most of the txt spk that makes up my title. On the odd chance that you are elderly and have stumbled across this blog whilst completing a task in a free community class on ‘The Wonders of the World Wide Web’ – I shall decipher: Facebook Best Friends Forever, In real life snub (nb: snub is not an acronym), What the F*%!?.
It is one of the most troubling paradoxes to face avid internet users – you’ve boosted each other’s friend count on whatever form of social media you choose (although I’ve specified facebook this could equally apply to twitter or god forbid myspace) and possibly exchange the odd comment, ‘like’, @mention or top friends status. Why then, when you inevitably run into them whilst indulging in banal activities such as catching public transport or buying milk, do you pretend each other exist? The sick part is, after this mutual ignorance, you retire to your cyberworld and continue the friendship from the confines of the keyboard.
I recently experienced the FB BFF, IRL snub – WTF? in horrifying clarity. Lurking in the vicinity of Piedimonte’s, aimlessly walking around contemplating life changing decisions such as “Dench five-spice duck sandwich or Loafer Bread lemon tart”, as one is wont to do of a Sunday morning when feeling slightly hungover I spied him. A guy who I had met at a party relatively recently and talked some shit with. It was one of the rare occasions where I was the more sober person, but nonetheless we had some funny conversations and shared a few laughs. As he was a friend of some friends, a few days later I took the plunge and added him on facebook. I’ll have it known that I’m not a serial adder – and this was out of the ordinary for me. Normally I like to meet people at least a few times in real life before progressing to social media second base. But I don’t know, I was feeling a bit wild, I guess, and acted out of character.
So back to Piedimontes. There I was, ambling around the tram stop, watching this guy approach. Something told me we would not greet each other. Perhaps it was the fact he was eating a pie (never a flattering food item to eat on the go) and I was all too conscious of being considerate of people’s humiliating food choices. Whatever the reason, when we crossed paths, our eyes briefly met and we both turned away, condeming our fledgling friendship to the cyber-realm.
I have a few ‘friends’ like this, and everytime I experience a situation like this I vow to myself that I will be the change I wish to see in the world, that I will shake off the shackles of awkward half friendships and greet them with my head held high. Even if I start with baby steps – a nod, a wave, a mumbled hello – before progressing to actually having, oh I don’t know, a conversation without LOLs, I will at least feel like I’m breaking the cycle. Because afterall, if you ‘like’ my status – surely you must ‘like’ me too?
