Generation Flaky: Why I'm Okay With Losing Touch With Old Friends

I admit it: I am the absolute worst at staying in contact. While I would like to say this only holds true for people I am not particularly close to, that is not the case.

Our generation is comprised of the modern-day nomad. Once we graduate from high school, there is about a 10-year time period when we move around from city to city and job to job. We are constantly forced to break and create new connections.

Seriously, how many connections can we maintain between juggling a career and an education?

Between my childhood and college friends, and all the other humans I have met along the way, I have acquainted myself with an incredible amount of people.

While some friends truly are forever, others tend to be just for the moment.

That girl you met in the bathroom of the club on Saint Patrick’s Day is not someone you should be particularly concerned about keeping in touch with.

However, your roommate who helped you through particularly rough times is someone you must work to keep in your life.

For someone who is constantly on her phone checking messages and every single social media platform, I tend only to keep in touch with the same four people: childhood best friend, high school best friend and two wildcards of the moment.

I suck at keeping people in the loop. It is so much easier to talk to the people who are currently and constantly in your life because they completely understand what you are going through.

Summer tends to be the time when I think about all the people I have lost touch with over the year.

“Hey! I see that you’re home for the next couple weeks, we should get lunch and catch up!”

This text is the bane of my existence. It is just a reminder of how sh*tty of a friend I have been the last couple months, as old friends attempt to include me again in their lives.

The bottom-line is, once I have not connected with you in a few months, I have probably already phased you out of my life.

It sounds so completely harsh, I know, but sometimes, you must maintain that perspective to cope with a fast-paced and ever-changing lifestyle.

I definitely regret my harsh “phasing out” actions, but it truly is a coping mechanism. It is all a part of growing up: You meet people, you move and, well, sometimes you must let others go to welcome more people into your life.

While I understand there are people out there who manage to stay in touch with every single person they have ever crossed paths with, I have never been able to do that.

How are you still able to text that barista you flirted with five years ago? THAT IS NOT NORMAL.

What it all comes down to is, I am so lazy. I do not mean to be a bitch by never reaching out to old friends again, but also, this is a two-way street.

C’mon, it is not entirely my fault we have not spoken since the first "Harry Potter" installment.

If you want me in your life, do not count on technology to keep our friendship alive.

I understand this is the 21st century, and trust me, every Millennial knows technology has saved (and broken) many of our relationships with other humans, but it does not entirely cut it.

Face-to-face interaction beats Facebook correspondence, am I right?

So, although I may never respond to your text in hopes to rekindle, you can expect to run into me at the local bagel store, excited to see you and catch up on all things missed over lost time.

It's just how I am, and I'm okay with that.