1. Would you say that you’re good at keeping in touch with people?
Definitely. When I was in college, I compiled a list of email addresses from old high school friends. This list grew into a webpage for alumni. Friends have always remarked that I am good at keeping track with people. I used to send out letters alot, so to friends whom I wasn’t really good friends with….they were just at writing letters.
Communication is a two way street. If I can’t get anyone to respond after several attempts, then I stop trying.
2. Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why?
I usually return emails, especially if they ask a specific question. One thing I hate is when people forward me junk such as jokes or inspiring stories to my email address. I only want personal emails. Anything else is just clogging up my email.
Blogging comments seems to have become a form of communication. If people want to know what I’m doing, they can just come to this webpage. Otherwise when they ask what I’m doing, I’m just going to repeat what I’ve written on this webpage.
I rarely use snail-mail anymore, except for a few instances. Tower Records has a rack of free postcards. They usually have some pretty cool designs on them. Everytime I go by there, I pick up a stack of postcards. I send out postcards to kids from church when it is their birthday or if I want to congratulate them for doing something good (baptism, graduation, etc….). They usually think it is cool, and in some instances they tend to like you better for remembering their birthday.
I don’t like talking on the telephone. It’s more of an annoyance rather than a form of communication. I don’t have a cell phone because I don’t really need one.
I have a difficult time meeting new people in person. It is awkward for me.
3. Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it?
I use Trillian. It incorporates all of the 4 big instant messenger programs into one program. Recently Trillian has become nagware. It nags you every so often to donate money and upgrade to the pro version. The pro version has features that I just won’t use. It is definitely not worth the $25 they are asking for, especially when AOL could block access to their servers at any time. I would highly recommend staying with Trillian .73 instead of upgrading to Trillian .74 or Trillian Pro 1.0.
I use instant messengers quite frequently. It is any easy way to keep in touch with people. It doesn’t feel as though you are so far away.
Most of my friends use AOL Instant Messenger. This is sorta ironic because it is probably the worst instant messenger program. Easy to use, but has terrible limitations in features. You can’t rename any of your buddies, so you’re stuck trying to remember that Hotchick234o32 is your friend Lindsey. It is limited to 200 buddies. I have maxed it out since many of my friends have multiple usernames. I hate that.
MSN is probably the most professional acting of all of the instant messengers. I like it. However I don’t like that you have to suffer through people’s idiotic nicknames. Some people have the lamest nicknames. For example whenever one particular friend signs in, it always says “It’s All Out” has signed on. How am I supposed to remember who that is? I should be able to override someone’s stupid nicknames.
I really wish that more of my friends would use Yahoo Messenger. It seems like a cool setup and has good potential. We used it alot at work. However since then, I have promptly removed my former coworkers from my buddy list. So now, very few people I know use it.
ICQ is bloatware. It has a bunch of features that I would never use. I only know a very few people who use it anymore. It was the only IM program that I received spam on – people typing in random ICQ numbers in order to get their message out.
4. Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away?
I don’t have many close friends. It’s a long story, but due to past experiences I have found that it is probably best not to become too close with someone. Leave some breathing room. Otherwise if the friendship turns sour, you won’t have to worry about your former friend using information against you.
Most of my friends live anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour away.
5. Are you an “out of sight, out of mind” person, or do you believe that “distance makes the heart grow fonder”?
I try to keep track of my friends even if they are far away. However it is up to them to return my emails. If they don’t, then I can’t keep track of them. I still remember my friends even if they are far away. But if it goes for a long time without hearing from them, then I rarely think about them.