What’s strange, is how I’ve come to talk to some people MORE after graduating than I did before. And I don’t think this would be the case without the Internet. First, there were a few people I became close to towards the end of grade 12. One of them, I talked to more often after graduating than beforehand, we’d talk daily online despite living two hours apart. Another couple friends, I’ve been getting into longer and more personal conversations with since graduating, even though we don’t talk regularly. Sometimes we’ll connect over personal things, other things we’ll connect over similar interest (like a big discussion that sprung up with a few high school friends after the Billy Bragg debate).

Even stranger — though this may be unique — is that I’ve gotten to know people from my high school who I didn’t know at all, people up to 5 years younger or older… Part of this has to do with being the student council co-president for a couple years, but I’ve gotten to know a LOT of younger students over Facebook, people I recognized from when I was at the school but only began talking to through Facebook a year or two after graduating. The older alumni I’ve gotten to know have largely been through my efforts to start up a high school alumni association, but that wouldn’t be possibly without Facebook either.

I know and am closer to so many more people now since graduating thanks to the Internet…

It’s weird hearing from them again over 20 years later, and totally out of context from how I remember them.