A few days ago, I got some stuff in the mail for my college’s five-year reunion. I’m currently weirded out, because not long after the college reunion comes the big one… the ten-year high school reunion.
Here’s the thing, though: I don’t feel the slightest urge to go to either reunion.
I always assumed I’d be gung-ho about it; I was relatively involved in school, and I always thought a reunion sounded fun. Catching up with people, seeing who changed, seeing who had babies, enduring surreal and uncomfortable moments – the stuff movies are made of! Who knows what surprises lie in store?
Oh, but wait. There aren’t any surprises – because I’ve been on Myspace and Facebook.
Because of Facebook and Myspace, I know who wound up in commercials and the occasional TV show. I know who just had their second child. I know who’s been spending way too much time in the sun, and who moved across the country. I know more things about some people than I ever did when I went to school with them.
I even have a few friends that fit the old reunion movie cliche: they were shy geeks in high school that totally blossomed in college and beyond. You might not even recognize them – but they have social networking pages, so no triumphant, surprising return there.
I honestly don’t think I’ll go to these reunions – today’s increased communication is rendering them obsolete, and social networking is no small part of that. But maybe I come from a rather close-knit (and gossipy) community, too.
So what about you? Do you think social networking sites have made reunions pointless? And if you haven’t stayed in contact, are you itching to show your old classmates how far you’ve come? Or is a reunion a flashback you’d rather not have?
About j
Funny you should mention, j! I just recently received my 10 year high school reunion invitation as well, THROUGH FACEBOOK! I responded a maybe, although I don’t think I’ll be attending, when summer rolls around. My ex-husband recently attended his (incidentally the same school and half of my circle of friends) and came back with more aggravation than satisfaction for the amount of money he spent, just to join a group of people in person to discuss the latest pictures posted on their profiles.
Then again, there are other people who utterly refuse to have an online profile that I would love to catch up with! So there’s always hope that those people will attend. Even then, I’m not sure I’d really want to spend the $100 and 4 hours time in the hopes that a hand full of people show up.
Perhaps if, along with the invitations, we could get a list of attendees…
.-= y´s last blog ..School Reunions: Not Necessary With Facebook? =-.
My 20 year is in a week or so. If I was in the area I’d drive over and attend. It’d be fun to see people again face to face. Since I live 2000 miles away, facebook lessens the desire to see people for hundreds of dollars in air fair and hotel booking. Plus I had many friends that were a year or two ahead or behind me. The reunion doesn’t cover that while social media does.
.-= Nicholas McDowell´s last blog ..Superhero Discussion =-.
Boo High School reunions. I am getting to the 10-year mark for mine, and couldn’t care less.
I had a classic geek school life. The people who were my friends, I’ve kept up with. The other people, well I really don’t care what they’ve done. They were either jerks (who may have mellowed since then, but I don’t care enough to find out) or people I never knew that well to begin with. Many fall into both categories.
I’ve kept up with the people I care about.
As for university, it’s more interesting, but there’s a different problem there. I took a couple years off in the middle, so I graduated 2 or 3 years (it varies, depending on course load) behind all of my friends that I started with. I had some friends in my classes at the end, but many of them don’t graduate until next year as well.
When another giant “everyone from the engineering faculty from any years” reunion comes around, I’ll probably go. But that happened a couple years ago for the centennial, and probably won’t be for another 50 years…
.-= Graham´s last blog ..CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists =-.
I kind of agree. I think that for most people I have a pretty good idea of what they are up and what not, but honestly some of my closest friends from high school aren’t on these social network sites (but then again they live far away from where we grew up).
My husband is against going to any reunion but I think I will probably break down and go to my 10 year reunion in 3 years.