“Friends” or Just “Facebook Friends?”

Yesterday, I was walking through Walmart, when I noticed a girl my age in the cereal aisle that looked quite familiar. I thought to myself, “Where have I seen this person before?” I just could not put my finger on it. She was not from my hometown…I did not attend summer camp with her…She is not in any of my classes… The list of possible encounters went on and on in my mind. For several seconds, I began to think I was crazy. Then, suddenly, it hit me. I am friends with her on Facebook! Just like that, I realized she was from a neighboring county back home, and dated a friend of a friend.

Awkwardly, we made eye contact. I smiled, and she gave me a puzzled stare. Ouch…Maybe she does not remember becoming Facebook friends and has no clue who I am? To avoid the situation, I turned my head abruptly, pretending like I was looking at the box of Cheerios on the shelf to my right. I picked up the box and flipped it to the back while waiting for her to pass. Using my peripheral vision, I could see her glance at me, then push her cart onto the next aisle. Shew, that was awkward.

I am sure that I am not the only person that has endured an awkward experience of knowing, but not really knowing someone. I know plenty of people, including their names, where they are from, what they do, etc. On the other hand, I also know of people, such as those on Facebook who I am friends with, but have never actually talked to in person.

This made me think, is there really a stark difference in actual friendships versus Facebook friendships? Of course, you can learn a lot about people on Facebook through the information provided on their profile, the things they post and share, and their interactions with others. It might seem like we can know a person based off of these elements, but do we really?

My awkward encounter has made me be a little more cautious when hitting the send or accept friend request on Facebook. Instead of just seeing we have mutual friends and hitting accept, I ask myself, “Have I ever spoke to this person? or “Would I speak to this person in the future if I saw them?” Although it may seem a little harsh to decline a friend request, I think that making an effort to keep my friend network on Facebook relatively equivalent to those I actually know will help me avoid awkward encounters in the future.