I’m curious how my twenty year high school reunion is going to pan out this Saturday, you know, mainly thanks to Facebook. I know I have personally checked up on more than a handful of my old classmates thanks to the easy-to-stalk options Facebook has sent up for all its users. I guess it might be fun to find out which of your old class mates have been stalking you.

Still I worry that the catching up is going to be a bit different than the last reunion, ten years ago. Think about it, you are there talking with your old friend Josh and you ask, “Hey Josh, so what have you been up to?”

Josh: “Well I just got back from Hawaii.”

You: “I know! I saw the pictures. Looked like an amazing trip. I can’t believe you got to swim with dolphins. Your kids looked so happy.”

Josh: “Um, yeah . . . so what have you been up to?

You: “Oh just living vicariously through people I use to know thanks to Facebook.”

Then there are those things that you might not want to talk about, but thanks posting angry, posting drunk, or both, you might have to deal with questions like, “Hey Natalie, did you really get herpes because your husband didn’t use protection when he cheated on you? Or was that just a herpes scare? Or . . . oh god, you didn’t get anything worse did you?”

I also worry that with the overabundance of smartphones, a lot of communication will happen through posts. Things like:
Post from Sara: “I’m at my 20 year high school reunion and just saw my old high school fling walk in, awkward.”

Comment from Jane: LOL, I’m telling Travis.

Comment from Sara: Jane don’t you dare!

Travis “Likes” this.

Comment from Jane twenty minutes later: Sara, are you still hear? I’ve been looking for you for the past 15 minutes? Where did you go?

I guess there is a chance that arguments could start as well thanks to social networking, although it will probably all happen on Facebook while two people are sitting across from each other not saying anything. Something like:
Post: I can’t believe Kelly is flirting with Bruce. What are you both 16 again?

Comments: We are both married with families, we are just catching up. Guess you still haven’t gotten over him asking me to the prom instead of you.

To assist with more human based interaction I hope they treat the dinner like movie theaters and ask everyone to turn off their cell phones for the duration of the reunion. I’m even tempted to get a cell phone blocker so no one will get a signal the entire night we are hanging out. Although, knowing how people tend to respond to that type of thing it would probably result in me sitting indoors all by myself while everyone else is outside where they can get a signal.

When I told a co-worker that I was going to my 20th he asked if I was going to rent a Porsche and a tux to show everyone I made it. I think that is the difference between a 10 year and 20 year reunion. When you are still in your 20s showing off, even if it’s a lie, seems like it would be a lot of fun. In my 30s though, it just seems exhausting, disingenuous, uncomfortable, and a complete waste of money. I wonder if that means I’m finally growing up, or just becoming boring.

I’m just looking forward to saying hello to a people and if things go well having some real conversations that might result in reconnecting with some old friend that doesn’t just end with me “Liking” a picture they recently posted of their family. It might be cool to actually get to know the names of their family as well. I’m also excited to find out who followed my yearbook advice and stayed cool, because twenty years ago that really was the best advice I had to offer. Sadly, I think it might be some of the best advice I have to off these days as well.

Stay cool everyone, and thanks for reading.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: class of 1992, fake conversation, texting while angry, and stay cool.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy