Last night at happy hour, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in years. We spent some time catching up and at one point the conversation turned to the online world.
During our chat, I learned that we share a pet peeve: people who refer solely to there online presence when asked, in person, how things are going. By this I mean they respond with a specific question.
“Have you read my ___?”
Fill in the blank with whatever online system of self-expression you like: blog… Twitter… facebook status… virtual tea leaves….
The list could go on.
And on those occasions someone asks if I read their whatever, my answer is a sometimes exasperated, “No. Why would I ask if I did?”
Have we become that lazy — or at least that dependent on online communications — that talking to someone in person is too much to ask?Apparently so. I thought social networking and blogs were supposed to enhance personal relationships, not replace them.
I’ll admit that I’m guilty of asking the “Did you read” question in the past, but the first time someone asked me that I realized, “Wow, that’s slightly pretentious.”
Granted, there may be times when it’s completely appropriate, but not when it’s preceded by “How’s it going?”
