Technology has made it super easy to connect with long lost friends. But it’s also made it hard to lose friends that have long since moved on. You can’t just slowly drift away and disappear any more. It actually takes effort to leave a friendship now. The New York Times wrote a piece almost three years ago (did I not mention last week I have a lot of drafts stored up?) about this exact issue – It’s Not Me, It’s You.
It probably stood out to me then because I’d recently done some more “pruning” of the people categorized as friends on social media that I wasn’t really friends with any more. It’s not that I don’t like them any more (except in one or two very specific cases), it’s more that we’d just moved on and I really didn’t care what was going on in their lives any more and figured they probably weren’t that concerned with what was going on in my life either.
I find it’s necessary to keep the pruning process going. We have a tree in our backyard that needs to be pruned two or three times a year in order for it to not completely take over our yard and house. I don’t prune friends that often, but every now and then I think it’s good to clean up some social clutter from our lives. I prune the blogs I follow for similar reasons.
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Somehow I ended up on L.L.Bean’s mailing list. We just got their winter catalog and I went through the same ritual I do every time it arrives.
I flipped through it and looked at all the warm clothes and thought how great they’d be to bundle up in. Then I remembered I live in Southern Arizona and don’t exactly need to do a lot of bundling up.
Then I saw all the great outdoor supplies and thought how great they’d be for when we go camping. Then I remembered we aren’t they type of people who go camping and don’t need camping supplies.
I plan to do the same thing the next time one of their catalogs arrives.
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
I have learned the hard way that after I move it’s hard to go back. I’ve tried to stay in touch but it usually doesn’t work. I have been pruned. :whistle:
Is there a button on here to just say “ME TOO!!” I prune my social media and blogs I follow at least once a year. It’s just something that needs to happen!
I don’t know if the two sections of your post were intended to be related, but you need to prune your junk mail. :brett:
I’ve tried using PaperKarma https://www.paperkarma.com/ to help prune the junk mail, but I also have no problems just putting it in the recycling. I should do a better job of pruning my social media.