Patterns of interaction

There are patterns everywhere; in nature ~ like the seasons, and for instance the weather patterns ~ as well as in our lives. There are night and day / sleep and awake patterns; work and play patterns and on and on. These patterns in our lives provide us with a structure that gives us a certain sense of comfort. Perhaps they are even setting us up in our comfort zone.

Apart from the patterns we live by, there are also patterns in our behavior, in our speech and interaction. And these patterns have up to now not been that obvious to the people around us. We ourselves may have been frustrated at times, asking ourselves why we keep finding ourselves in similar situations over an again throughout a period in our lives, yet only those that are very close to us may have seen those type of patterns in our lives…

Then social media came into being.

And by the very nature of that which we share with our friends on social media, suddenly we gain insight in how certain patterns play out in the lives of others.
The way language is used; from very precise ~ rectifying every misspelled word ~ to the internet ‘shorthand’ predominantly used in phone access. But whichever way we share on social media, chances are we share a whole lot more about our lives ~ often with friends we may not know all that well ~ than we would in a face to face conversation with a friend over a cup of tea or coffee…

Reading along with all the things that are happening to our friends on social media, we can see the patterns emerging. We can see how some find themselves in a difficult spot in life, and how they are dealing with it. Whether they take responsibility for their actions, or blame everybody and the kitchen sink for their predicament. How some truly gain from the interaction, while others just seem to get angry when their social media friends have different ideas, different experiences, and different opinions.

Like with friendships in the physical world ~ where, when you drift apart the friendship may end ~ the ‘digital’ friendships on social media may end in ‘un-friending’ a person; or, for that matter being ‘un-friended’.
It is one of those things that happens; when we choose a different direction in life, when we lose common ground, ‘old’ friends may disappear while new friends may be found…

It is a pattern of interaction that is pretty common; be it in the ‘real’ world, or on social media.

What is new is that on social media all of our friends can see or read how this pattern plays out ~ sometimes over and over again. How we interact with others, where we do take responsibility and where we shy away from it; and perhaps most important, how graceful we are in our interaction with others…
.
.