Social Media and the Expat Life

A friend of mine back in the States absolutely refuses to sign on to Facebook, mainly because she sees it as too impersonal, too lacking in face-to-face interaction. I can definitely see where she’s coming from. I jumped on to the Facebook bandwagon waaaay later than my friends. Most of them joined as undergrads. I’d finished university several months before when I finally bit the bullet and signed up. And the only reason I did was because I was taking a second trip across the pond and would be gone for 6 months. I figured it would be a good way to stay in touch with them while I was gone.

Fast forward a few years (OK 8 years) and now I don’t know how I ever got on without Facebook. Not just Facebook, but pretty much all forms of social media. Because of Facebook, I can keep in touch with friends I’ve met in my travels, friends back in the US, friends here in Europe, even friends in Asia. Friends that I normally would have lost touch with, not because I don’t value the friendship, but because of the distance and massive time zone differences.

Skype has allowed me to stay in touch with my friends and more importantly my family. Pre-Skype, those weekly phone calls to the fam really added up. Post-skype it’s easy and cheap for me to quickly call my parents, my brother, my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, nephew etc. And Twitter allows me to interact with likeminded people, most of whom I’ve never met, some of whom I’ve had the honor of seeing face-to-face.

There’s something to be said about the “always on, always connected” nature of social media. Sometimes I do long for the days of being out of touch, unreachable (hence my aversion to getting a smartphone). But most days, I love the fact that with my laptop and a wifi connection, I can tweet to my cousins in Georgia and Florida, talk to my parents on Skype, and IM/Facebook message friends all over the world. Social media has definitely made the expat life a little easier.