Honestly, now.

After some interesting conversations at work concerning people from the past coming out of the woodwork and mucking up the present, a coworker brought up an interesting idea.  Is all this contact really a good thing?  Can we even handle it (psychologically speaking)?

With sites that promote contact between people (myspace, facebook, etc.) are we missing out on letting go?  I think there are some parts of our lives that we want, and possibly need, to put behind us.  However, when you have someone that you were friends with in elementary school tracking you down and befriending you via the internet, it makes this difficult.  On one hand, the childhood friendship had value.  On the other hand, well, there’s a reason you’re not friends anymore.

It also leads to breakups being a whole lot less broken.  And not in a good way.  With breakups in the real world, it tends to be fairly straightforward.  Avoid.  Until time gets around to fixing it, avoiding is the way to go.  But even then we still all have the impulse to see what out ex is up to.  We can’t leave well enough alone.  In the past, there was some pretty decent incentive to leave it alone.  Finding out information required either A) asking someone-which has it’s own set of humiliations, or B) stalking-which has it’s own set of legal problems.  But now, being creepy is a whole lot easier and more private.

I’m not really going anywhere with this.  It’s just meandering ramble.

All of that said, I am EXTREMELY grateful that I do have this option.  I’m terrible at writing letters, but somewhat better at emails.  And I have come across a few people that I really did just get out of touch with.  And I’ve even come across someone who I’d always intending on talking with, but circumstances just didn’t agree.  I like the opportunity to talk.  I just also like to keep the past in the past.