Prompt: A Community I Love – Online & in real life, we’re all part of a multitude of communities. Tell us about one that moves you.
A Community I Love
This one was easy. It’s social media as a whole, because it’s brought me all of you.
There’s something about the magic of instant connection that mimics what I loved so much in college–late-night intellectual conversations where you wind up watching the sunrise together, piling into the dorm TV room to watch the Muppet Movie and realizing in shock just what went over your head when you saw it as a kid, laughing without being able to stop at absolutely nothing at all. It’s the togetherness, the shared vibe, the mutual understanding that we crave so much.
With everyone scattered away from that deliciously insular college life, I found Facebook to be an incredible connective tool. Now I can be up late talking to someone just starting their day, or see the window flooded with sunrise just as someone else is headed out for the evening. Time almost doesn’t matter, so while I may miss the real-to-real frisson and vibe, the surrogate is this fantastic, flexible internet.
I know the definition of “friendship” can be highly debated when you’ve never met someone in person and completed the circle, but I believe you can have valuable, trusted relationships nonetheless. There’s something joyous about posting a thought, important or mundane, and having it understood and responded to by someone you may never meet in person but who you know is there for you.
So to the friends I now know better than ever because we have Facebook, friends from the gothy community who virtually tickle me pink every day, my dear online buds Noël, Diahann, Ty, Michelle, Ed, Diana (and I always worry I’ll leave someone off so I am cutting this list off short right now), friends I’ve just met and the friends I have yet to meet–you all make this whole online lifestyle the bountiful magic kingdom it’s supposed to be. And I thank you all for that.
Author Becky Benishek 
Interesting juxtaposition between social media and college life.
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It clicked into place for me. I could have gone on with the metaphors, too!
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I agree that it’s much more challenging to cultivate friendship outside of college. I’ve met so many people at conferences, etc that I was able to keep up with because of social media and now consider them my closest friends. And of course, via reverb and other online communities and courses I’ve taken, I’ve been able to feel connected to other people who write about their lives, which is simply amazing!
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I love that feeling, and just these couple weeks of reverb alone has helped increase it. Getting to know people through their writing has been a fantastic journey.
I’m glad college was the way it was for me–I don’t think social media was even remotely a catchphrase then, it was all just email and telnet and IRC–but I am so glad it’s come around now.
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I agree, I have made some friends here on the interwebs that are as important to me as some people I see everyday. A friend is a friend, no matter what time it is at your house when they put their shoes on. Sounds like a great community.
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You are so right.
I probably shouldn’t think of “Teh Interwebs” as an entity onto itself, but I do. It’s a great big communal house you can wander through at will. And I am glad I’ve met you in it.
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You expressed how I feel about my Twitter/blogging family perfectly! It’s getting to be easier for me to just say “my friends” without qualifying it with “online.”. I have come to really care about people that I met through these forums & they are blessings to me every day.
So glad to have found you here!
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Very true–friends are friends (as Jason also noted) no matter what form they take. We know when it’s really real or not.
I am very glad to have found you out here as well! Good ol’ reverb.
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