Could social media replace high school reunions?

When I got the phone call during the summer of 2008 from a former classmate at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas letting me know the class of 1988 would be holding their 20th reunion in late August, I wasn’t that excited about attending.

Given I was one week away from being laid off at the IT job I held back then, and I still hadn’t heard from another job I had interviewed with the month before as to whether I was hired or not, the last thing I wanted to do was listen to former classmate’s success stories. I didn’t want to see pictures of their kids and listen to them boast about the six figure salaries their significant others make let alone take a one-night stroll down memory lane.

To quote mobster Tony Soprano, “Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.”

My attitude about reminiscing on old times is equivalent of the attitudes a few of characters in "The Big Chill" (1983) spoke about, including Alex, the one whose suicide off screen brought the college graduates together and who audiences learned about, if not identified with, through various recollections.

I equate my not wanting to reminisce with what Harold, played by Kevin Kline, said about his friends over dinner.

“Getting away from you people was the best thing that ever happened to me. I mean how much sex, fun, friendship can one man take,” he said.

Ok. There was no sex but there were moments of fun and friendship.

Truth of the matter is I haven’t seen two of three of my closest friends I hung out with in high school since 2006. One I haven’t seen since his wedding reception in the 1990s. I have three of them on my Facebook page but despite my suggesting we need to get together one of these days for lunch that has yet to happen. The fact is when your friends are married and have kids and, in my case, I am single and have yet to find a significant other (then again, I’m not really looking right now) and don’t want any children, your interests change, and you drift apart.

Personally, I’m much more interested in finding out what happened to the ones I knew in grade school from 1976 to 1984 than I did in high school, which is where social media comes in.

Though I have only connected with seven former classmates from grade school on Facebook, thanks to seeing the occasional listing on the top right corner of the page when logging in that shows pictures under the heading of “People You May Know” I have been able to locate almost everyone from grade school. Even though I had no desire to friend a majority of those people, I have been able to learn everything I wanted to know about them just by looking at their personal portraits or pictures of their kids and seeing where they live or what company they work for, provided they made that information public.

The same applies to the ones I’ve either connected with or have found on social media that I knew in high school. All the information I’ve found out about various people is what I would learn attending an alumni party where you are served the best food (even if it’s not any good at least it’s free) from some of the top restaurants in the city, free alcohol and a band that actually knows how to play dance music.

To quote Jeff Goldblum’s character in "The Big Chill," “They throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can’t come.” Or in my case, don’t want to.

I’m not denying it was good to see a couple of fellow classmates in person when I attended the alumni party last month at a homecoming game. I have since gotten a few friend requests from some other fellow classmates I had not seen in two decades as a result. The question remains; will I see them again when the 30th reunion comes up in 2018? Will I just for the hell of it, attend another homecoming game every year until then to see who I run into to play catch up? Will I even go to the 30th reunion or just wait until the big 50 comes around to find out how many of us are left? I’m not thinking that far ahead.

Now that we got social media, I don’t think a day goes by for anyone that they don’t see a post from so-so letting everyone know what their relationship status is, wish friends happy birthday, where they are working at, posting pictures of their kids, family holiday get-togethers, and places they are going to on vacation. People can now click on the “like” option if they “like” the comment, meme or opinion so-so posted, or they can engage in pissing contests arguing about politics, gun control, free health care or terrorism. Or at the very worst delete them because they don’t agree with their left-wing/right-wing politics.

With the technology we got now, what do we need high school reunions when we can find out all we ever wanted to about someone through social media other than maybe get the free food and never-ending supply of alcoholic beverages?

©11/18/15