Box 4, in particular, is a really depressing rubric for friendship as it assumes a person vanishes the moment they stop providing new content on Social Media.
I just think of it as shorthand for the very real phenomenon that some people fall off the radar in every measurable way: can no longer be found in person, won’t respond to calls or texts, no online presence (even DMs/chats, or electronic invites to in-person activities). I have a few friends in that category, and it’s often something like trying to build a new life away from their past (sometimes including a new spouse and/or social circle), or even mental health issues.
And some people really do want to live off grid in a cabin in the mountains, or backpacking, or in a faraway, low-connectivity job (at sea, or in remote wilderness, or whatever else). If they end up doing that and fall off the radar, it happens.
I just think of it as shorthand for the very real phenomenon that some people fall off the radar in every measurable way
Sure. But there tends to be a certain distance already baked in. Unless you have a deep bound with someone - a parent / sibling / child, typically - once you stop interacting with that person IRL, there’s less and less of an incentive to engage with them remotely.
I just think of it as shorthand for the very real phenomenon that some people fall off the radar in every measurable way: can no longer be found in person, won’t respond to calls or texts, no online presence (even DMs/chats, or electronic invites to in-person activities). I have a few friends in that category, and it’s often something like trying to build a new life away from their past (sometimes including a new spouse and/or social circle), or even mental health issues.
And some people really do want to live off grid in a cabin in the mountains, or backpacking, or in a faraway, low-connectivity job (at sea, or in remote wilderness, or whatever else). If they end up doing that and fall off the radar, it happens.
Sure. But there tends to be a certain distance already baked in. Unless you have a deep bound with someone - a parent / sibling / child, typically - once you stop interacting with that person IRL, there’s less and less of an incentive to engage with them remotely.