Close Friend’s Story? I Hardly Know Her!
I do not understand 'close friends’ stories. Well, I get the idea of them. I get why the internet think tank thought of it. There’s an air of exclusivity that hits you like a drug when you see that little green icon. The intoxicating idea of being a part of someone’s “inner circle”. The feeling of being the first to know. I was drawn in because even though I do not like to admit it, I am a gossipy little bitch. Close friend stories activated my primal gossip brain in the same way the finsta phenomenon did, and I missed that feeling.
That beautiful emotion died in my chest when I took a look around and asked myself, WHY am I on so many people’s close friends' stories?
I know I am not close friends with this many people. I know I am not close friends with the girl I met and talked to for 15 minutes on a night out. I know I am not close friends with the enby who used to sit next to me in college algebra. I MOST CERTAINLY KNOW I am not close friends with the girl I have an imagined rivalry with in my head.
It’s not like I don’t want to be there. As I said earlier, I am a gossipy bitch that loves drama that doesn’t involve me. I read close friends’ stories like tabloid magazines. But it makes me afraid for them. What if I wasn’t me? What if I was evil? What if I was a person who screenshotted other people’s close friends’ stories just to put them on my close friends’ story?
As much as it pains me to say it, we need to normalize telling our friends things in person. Yes, it feels more fun and less vulnerable to post it online for all your not-so-close friends. But what about your actual close friends? The ones who would never screenshot? The ones who would treat you with care? The ones who would hear about your most recent situationship and react not with grotesque fascination, but with honesty and horror?
We, as a society, have allowed social media to take so much from us. Don’t let technology take away in-person, close-friend gabbing sessions. We need that community more than ever, and I, a person preying on your hilarious misfortune, should not have access to your community.