Todd Essig has a thoughtful post about how social networks have affected the process of saying good-bye in our culture. Now that the hospital where he works is closing, he anticipated more than the usual end-of-school-year good-byes. Instead, he’s seen less: as one of his residents observed, “there has been more ’see you on Facebook!’ and ‘I’ll follow you on Twitter‘” than actual goodbyes.
While social networks promise to help us keep in touch, that same promise may deprive us of a meaningful good-bye, Essig writes: