Who Needs a Reunion When We Have Facebook (and Instragram)?

I recently came across a New York Times blog called "Bits," written by a recent college grad, Jenna Wortham, who posed the question, "Who Needs a College Reunion? I've Got Facebook." http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/who-needs-a-college-reunion-ive-got-facebook/. She was invited to her five-year reunion and adamantly stated that she had no intention of going because Facebook kept her up to date on each and every classmate she cared about. She knew who married who, what their children looked like, what gainful employment they had, what community groups they supported, and so on. And there's no doubt that she was keeping tabs on everyone that was important to her. But I have to extrapolate forward 10, 20, 30 years and wonder if she'll still feel the same way then? Somehow the passage of time, the frailty of the human body, and the growing nostalgia for days gone by takes its toll on our curiosity, and I believe she'll want to go back to see her friends and spend time together in a reunion setting. What she doesn't know is how wonderful it will be to see all the graduates who weren't actual "friends" - people she hasn't stayed in touch with. She will marvel at how they changed. The class computer nerd is now Bill Gates. The kid with acne is now a world renown brain surgeon. The shrinking violet is now an AIDS activist. I think that Facebook (and Instagram) will reinforce the desire to attend class reunions BECAUSE they allow people to stay in touch and thereby makes the community stronger. Whether it's a college class, a high school class, a family, or a company, the desire to reunite gets stronger with the years. That's why, in my experience, with every decade, more and more people come out for the reunions. Our ten-year reunion had about 85 people - 20th about 125 and 30th 175. Now for our 40th, we could get more than 250! And why is that? Email, yes. Google, yes. Whitepages.com, yes. Classmates.com, yes. Twitter, yes. And FACEBOOK! Definitely yes! More than any of them, Facebook has served to get people excited about our class reunion and has been the launching pad of many mini-reunions that have spontaneously combusted during the course of this year. I agree with Dr. Ana Martínez-Alemán, a professor at Boston College and author of “Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture.” who speculates that "Facebook could be reinforcing collegiate culture and strengthening bonds that otherwise could have dissipated over the years. " You are correct Ana and happily, because of that, more and more people will be attending their class reunions. Do you agree or disagree? Share your opinion.

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