wallydownundy

It’s odd making virtual friends. Usually you have a chance to see someone, speak in-person and size them up before entering into a friendship. Yet on-line you’re suddenly abandoning that dynamic and speaking with people you’ve never met - and are unlikely to meet in-person.

On Tuesday I flew from Adelaide to Melbourne and met with Anna Whitlam at Market U. Anna’s a class act who is also a high-end executive recruiter. It was disorienting to have her so familiar with my thinking and background - all gained by reading this blog.

On Facebook I’ve had in-depth conversations with people in South Africa, London, Dubai, Budapest and LA. I’m unlikely to meet them - ever.

But there’s a psychological closeness we gain from strangers in different lands. We can share intimacies knowing they’re unlikely to come back to us. We can try on different skins, act out fantasies or talk of details so close and painful we’d never entrust them to people in proximity for fear it may boomerang. 

It’s a new social order when we retreat to a room alone in order to get close to people we’ll never meet - and leave alone those in our own household.