Has Social Media Killed the Need For High School Reunions?

2011 marks my ten year high school reunion.

Gosh, I remember high school like it was yesterday.

Hanging out with my closest friends at Denny's until midnight, making out with Adam on the green shag carpet of my basement, running around the soccer field, practicing my tenor saxophone, writing one-act plays about pan-wielding, Chaka Khan-singing homicidal waitresses in Baltimore, wearing pant suits to gym class, forcing friends to reenact entire skits of Kids in the Hall, gawking at a picture of a shirtless Elton John.

Graduation seemed light years away, let alone a ten year reunion!

But now it's here.

And I don't give a flying rat on a flying fork about it.

How can this be???

Aren't I supposed to be super stoked about heading back home to brag and feel disproportionately superior to my former classmates for no other reason than I simply "got out"? Aren't I supposed to be planning in my head what rocking outfit I'll wear to the reunion to show off the muffin top I never sprouted? Aren't I supposed to already be designing business cards to pass out like candy with Patrick Bateman-esque fervor just to prove to them all that I went somewhere? Aren't I supposed to be coming up with a story about how I left town at 17 to join the military, found out I was excellent at killing people, became a hitman, began analyzing what made me tick, and came back to my ten year high school reunion to find meaning to my life while dancing to Pete Townsend with the curly-haired girlfriend I left behind?

I'm not thinking any of those thoughts.

The dreams I entertained senior year about marching back into my hometown in a sequin gown, spewing stories about where I've been and what I've seen while a trail of star-struck peers trail behind carrying my train simply have disappeared.

Looking at the Facebook invite for our class reunion suggested that I'm not the only one who feels that way. In fact, more people have declined the invite than accepted. Even people who still live in our town of 18,740 are bailing.

The person responsible for organizing our reunion politely stepped down from his duties in anticipation of the birth of his first child this year. So far there haven't been any takers in filling his position. I looked at the list of people attending the reunion and realized I barely knew any of them. Anyone I'd most be interested in seeing are listed as "Maybes" or "F Thats".

This got me thinking...what happened to the high school reunion?
What happened to the romance of Peggy Sue, Martin Q. Blank, and Romy & Michelle?

Facebook is what happened. Now no one has to eagerly wait 5 or 10 years to find out who married who, who knocked up who, who took over managing the local KFC, and who went on to became the UN Ambassador of Bali.

Now we're all connected...more so than we could ever want.

We peruse wedding albums to see who got the fattest and baldest. We are inundated with photos of the same baby on the say day in the same outfit at 140 different angles. We learn people's works histories, relationship histories, thoughts, wishes, and dreams. We even learn about death. Facebook has completely taken the anticipation out of high school reunions. Throw in high gas prices, high airline prices, and high unemployment and you really nail the coffin shut.

I remember my mother always telling me that the ten year high school reunion was most exciting. That people were still young and trying to impress one another and excited about life. Now no one can be bothered- including myself.

Is the high school reunion quickly dying? I think so.
Soon enough Facebook will be offering a way for us to have virtual reunions.

(title suggested by @Supertsai ...because he came up with a better blog post title than I did)

Do you still dream about your high school reunions?