Maintaining friendships without social networks

Maintaining friendships after Facebook and Twitter:

Some people are like, “How are you supposed to maintain normal human relationships?” Don’t worry, I tell them. There are way better ways to be internet friends than Facebook and Twitter. In fact, most of them already existed before those! I know! So weird!

If you want to stay in touch with people like me who shut off our accounts, or you’re ready to get rid of yours, too, here’s a comprehensive guide on how to have internet friends in the No Social Media Club (N.S.M.C.). You may already be a member!

And – there’s no great surprises on the list — but plenty of good recommendations. All it means is making a bit more effort to connect with a smaller group of people. That might actually be good for some of us.

A pedant might be tempted to point out that Mitchell’s recommendation of using WhatsApp keeps you firmly in the Facebook garden, and I am indeed that pedant.

However, it’s a useful reminder that the tools we used to keep up with friends before the rise of these social networks are still there — and some of them are better than we remember. I actively miss the days when I used to have extended e-mail conversations with friends.

[via Colin Walker]

Nani Williams