Are friends just supposed to be like a TV? You talk to them when it’s convenient for you and you can’t think of something else to do?
I’ve just realized all the people I thought were my friends only talk to me on their schedule, when they feel like it. I’m left on read for days, meetings are ignored, text message conversations just end abruptly until they get back from vacation…
Is this it? Is this what friendship is? Because I don’t want it. I don’t want to feel like I have people to rely on only to find out that I’m just a convenience for people.
In the de-personalized age of the internet, it does seem like a lot of people are behaving that way. But I would say that this is the difference between friends and acquaintances.
I grew up before the internet became ubiquitous, and friends were far more integral to one’s social life.
Bowling Alone, published in 2000, was already noting significant social rot. And lots of people are reporting that they have literally zero reliable friends.