A road trip down memory lane reveals the absurdity of what we now call “social media”

. . . or “The post in which I really date myself.”

Gather ’round, kids, Grandma’s got a story to tell. Get comfy …

So I’ve been in a funk lately, as you may or may not have gotten from recent posts and encounters with me in person (or lack thereof). Common wisdom says that if you’re in a funk, a change of scenery will always do you some good. Saturday I found myself with a bit of cabin fever and some time on my hands so I did what any self-respecting redhead in a funk would do — I took a road trip.

Totally on a whim, I pinged a long-time online friend of mine, Lindsay M. Allen, who just moved from Mt. Pleasant to Midland for a job. Lindsay and I had been meaning to meet for a very long time and that day seemed as good a time as any. In a direct message via Twitter, I said, “I’m feeling spontaneous & need to get out of the house. whaddya doin’ today? I’ll come up & meet ya for coffee …”

Within an hour I was on the road, embarking on an 80 mile mini-road trip to Frankenmuth (sort of midway between us) to meet my online friend for the first time in person and have pizza.

The spontaneity was refreshing, as was the feeling I had when I got off the expressway and had to drive through the country to reach my destination. Wide open spaces of cornfields sprinkled with red barns hither and yon, this country girl felt right at home. I had almost forgotten that just driving around in the country was one of my favorite things to do.

Meeting Lindsay was great. We had lots of fun having conversation over pizza and amazing dessert, and walking around what is arguably the most touristy town in Michigan.

On my drive home, I couldn’t help but think about how much things have changed in our culture the past dozen years or so, especially with the maturation of the internet. These days meeting someone in person that you met online first is no big deal. We do it all the time, and with careful planning. We organize events on Facebook, have tweetups, sometimes sell tickets on EventBrite, give everything a hashtag, etc. and it’s all organized. Today, this is called “social networking,” and the organization of it has made it rather mundane (for me, anyway).

I remember when it wasn’t always that way.

That reminds me of back in St. Olaf . . .

A dozen years ago, it was hardly this organized or widely accepted. A dozen years ago, to meet up with somebody you had only interacted with online was usually called “Are out of your goddamn mind?!” That was back when people on “the other side of the computer” were all assumed to be axe murderers and child molesters.

Yet, a dozen years ago, I did it anyway.

In 1998ish I made many friends online through Yahoo Groups, BBSing, chat/IRC, AIM, and good ol’ fashioned email. Usually the common thread we all shared was a favorite musician or band. From there, other common threads were found and friendships were formed. I would fly (or drive) out to the Washington D.C. area many times to hang out with my friends, go to concerts, and even have road trips, some more spontaneous than others. It was not uncommon for me to have a few days off and just hop in my car and drive 12 hours to Baltimore for a concert and a gathering with my friends just because I missed them, and because they were just as crazy as I was.

This was “social media” before social media as you now know it.

We didn’t have the convenience of Twitter and Facebook – if we wanted to organize something, it was all done through email lists and IM correspondence. There was no such thing as a hashtag, no such thing as a blog (although LiveJournal was just around the corner), and we actually talked on our phones to each other, because texting didn’t exist. Even having a cell phone was more of a luxury than a necessity, and those that had them had to carry them in bags. Without the convenience of the social networking tools we have these days, we were able to coordinate and meet up via our available technology, have plenty of road trips, parties, good times at concerts, and form long-lasting friendships, many of which we still maintain today, twelve years later.

Were we crazy, perhaps naive by doing all this back then, or were we early pioneers in social media/networking?

Yes.

In many ways, I think it was more social that way. We didn’t call our methods of communication “social media,” nor did we make much of a big deal about it. It was just the way we communicated. We called our gatherings “gatherings” and “parties” and “concerts” and “road trips” — because that’s exactly what they were. There was no need for sponsors or anything fancy — it was just what we did. And we had a blast. (I still have at least one book about those days to publish — I’ve still got the manuscripts.)

Had we known then, that a handful of years later, this would evolve into a big movement called the “social media revolution” to emphasize communication over the internet and forming relationships, doing business through the internet via those relationships, and events would be organized through the internet to celebrate that we did these things, complete with sponsors and labels (hashtags) for each one — we’d have laughed our asses off at the absurdity.

Now that I think about it, I kinda do.

My pioneering social media days further validate that if you’re really out to “form relationships” in this digital space, your tools really do not matter. People will always be social, using whichever tools/media available as only a means to an end.

And you know what? Most of my best memories, best friends, and most amazing adventures back then were the product of not really planning or organizing online at all — I just got up and went.  Much like what I did on Saturday when I drove 80 miles to meet Lindsay.

That night I stumbled upon a series called “Remember Who You Are” that cartoonist and author Hugh MacLeod is running with a bunch of guest bloggers. “Remember Who You Are” is his new theme, and each post I read struck a resonating chord.

I couldn’t have found this series at a better time.

What I did that day — spontaneously going on a road trip to meet an online friend, no planning at all — helped me remember who I am. I’m a dozen years older now but I’m still that random redhead that doesn’t think twice about a spur-of-the-moment road trip, that loves driving in the country with the windows down and the radio up, that loves live music and will drive to the ends of the earth to see a good show.

I’m still that damn redhead that maintains close friendships she made twelve years ago by having the audacity to to meet people via a strange medium called “the internet,” that while strange, scary, and unfamiliar to most, was simply the way she communicated with people then, just as it is now.

… and I still think that people make way too big of a deal about it.

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