A conversation with my best friend today has sparked this blogpost. We were reminiscing about the past, which brought up the issue of past friendships which had either been lost, or were currently in limbo.
Have you ever looked at your Social Media Friend Count? My reference comes from Facebook, but WordPress is included, Instagram, Twitter…
How many of your “friends” do you actually converse with on a daily or weekly basis?
My first example is WordPress. I have close to 750 followers, but how many of you actually read my posts? How many of you are culprits of scrolling down the newsfeed and “liking” posts without really reading them? How many of your followers do you actually speak to?
I know that I speak to more Bloggers than I do “friends” from my every day life.
Which brings me to example two:
Since being ill, I made a new Facebook. My friend count is 130. Approximately twenty of them are family, fifty of them speak to me once every six months and then think they have done their duties and go back into hiding, the other fifty have never said a word to me. I’m not sure why they have kept me, or I kept them… which leaves ten of them who I speak to daily or weekly.
Ten, out of a hundred and thirty.
And, my “friend” count is quite small.
This illness has opened my eyes to many things.
I now know the difference between those who truly care, and those who pretend to or don’t have time to.
What happened to people genuinely caring?
Is it too hard for someone to take twenty seconds of their time to contact you? To message or call? ESPECIALLY during ill health?
Why, with time, do people become sloppy with maintaining relationships?
Is technology to blame?
Is time to blame?
Are we too busy behind our screens, or with our own problems, to worry about what is surrounding us?
Or are people just… selfish? They prioritise what is important to them and maybe we just don’t make the cut?
I often wonder if the tables were reversed, how they would feel during a rollercoaster like this one.
I know I would offer my support in any way that I could, check up on them as often as I could and remind them that they are not alone… but my heart is big and I am selfless.
Can you safely say that you speak to more than fifty percent of your social media followers?
Do you think that you give more than you receive?
Indisposed and Undiagnosed 