“Want to be my bbm buddy?” he asked tentatively. “Your what?” I responded. Was this some sort of weird sexual request? “Your bbm buddy,” he repeated, looking slightly aghast. I looked at him blankly. “You know, on your blackberry?”

“Oh,” I said. New to the world of blackberries, I was starting to recall the term from somewhere. But I still had no idea what it meant.

Ten minutes later, his explanation had sufficed, and the deed was done. I had given him my pin.

I still futz around with bbm, but I am starting to get the hang of it. The glory of bbming (blackberry instant messaging) is that you can see multiple responses at once, without having to open them one at a time like with texts. Also, you can see all of your conversations with a particular contact at once.

I’m not really explaining this well. Probably because I am still figuring it out.

But suffice it to say that bbming is the most advanced form of instant messaging.

I probably like bbming because I have fond, nostalgic memories of good old AIM.

I remember sitting in front of my computer, procrastinating from doing my homework, a braces-filled 13 year old, the windows popping up like candy. I coudn’t even respond to them as fast as they appeared. It was a challenge, a test of social competency. And I loved it.

Before that, I had a pen pal from Israel. We wrote back and forth in Hebrew. I loved receiving her letters and writing back to her. We never knew when, or if, we would see each other again, but yet we shared a special relationship, and kept a friendship going, through our letters.

All of these modes of communication enable us to keep and foster the relationships in our lives, whether they are friendships or romantic relationships. By bbming someone, gchatting, texting, emailing, or writing, it says to the person, I am thinking of you. And very often, this is also an indication that you care about the person and about your relationship with that person.

Particularly in a romantic situation, especially if you don’t see the person everyday, a simple “How is your day going?,” can be priceless. It indicates that you are genuinely interested in that person and care about what is going on in their lives, even if it isn’t you. This implies selflessness, which is an invaluable trait in a mate.

So keep in touch. Even if you are busy, it doesn’t take long to send a quick email, or bbm, or whatever, saying, “Hey, I’m sorry i have been MIA, but just wanted to say hi and see how you are.” Or tell them about a funny occurrence in your life that somehow relates to an inside joke you have with them. Keeping in touch will work wonders for your friendships, your romantic relationships, and how people view you: as someone who cares about people other than themselves.

Keeping in touch will also help you if you ever need a favor from someone- you won’t be asking out of the blue, and they will be more likely to fulfill it if they feel good about their relationship with you (or feel like they even have one).

So get out of here and go get in touch with someone you haven’t talked to in ages, and think is particularly awesome. Or send that girl you are dating a quick, “How’s your day going?”

Remember, the fuller our relationships, the fuller are our lives. And possibly our text message boxes.

Keep in touch with friends you know now on Meezoog! It’s not too late…

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 8:44 am and is filed under advice, advice for guys, advice for women, communication, dating, friendship, global dating, relationships, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.