Hanging out with friends

Back in college, we used to show up at friends' houses and just hang out together; it could be playing video games, watching movies, having dinner, or just doing not much of anything together. After graduating from college, we seem to have less and less time. Most of our friends now also live farther than an easy 15-minute drive away.

Thanks to technology, I'm able to "hang out" with friends from the comforts of my own home office. I "hang out" with friends on IM, stay in touch by messaging each other on there. I "hang out" with other friends on a multi-user dungeon. While I haven't played in ages, I sometimes log on to just "hang" with friends in this virtual world, where we maybe just exchange a hello, chat in a group, talk about politics, or give each other a virtual hug. In this virtual world, I have a couple of friends from New York, one in the south bay, one in the east bay. Hubby's basketball friends also hang out in an online chat room practically everyday. While it's difficult to get together anymore due to distance, personal commitments, and really, sometimes plain laziness to drive a distance, we are still able to stay in touch. Although it's not the same as hanging out in person, technology has really allowed us to stay close to those we care about. I guess it's a little like when telephones were introduced...