Hello lovelies! I’m so happy to introduce this new series with all of y’all! Myself and several other (completely amazing) bloggers are sharing posts with the goal to help all of us transition from awkward to awesome new adults. 

You can find all the links to the posts in this series here.

New To Adulthood series | Part 3

We are going on a class field trip, and my English teacher tells us bluntly not to bring any phones, iPods, or other electronic devices with us to entertain ourselves during the ride.

To a group of eight graders, that sounds so bizarre. Our other teachers let us bring electronic devices on car rides before, and this time our field trip is two whole hours away! How would we occupy our time?

“Leave them in your lockers,” my teacher continues. “I want y’all to have face to face conversations with each other.”

Blank stares.

She sighs. “You know, like Facebook, but with just the faces.”

The day of the field trip arrives, and we load up in the various cars to go to the big city to see A Christmas Carol preformed on stage. During the ride, my van plays the usual car games. “I’m going to the zoo and I’m bringing an apple.” “I’m going to the zoo and I’m bringing an apple and a baboon.” and so on. We even make up a few games.

All in all, we have a good time without our electronic devices, and considering I don’t even have a phone or a fancy iPod, I’m quite thankful my teacher banned electronic devices. Talking and laughing with my friends is a much better way to pass the time.

Years have flown by, and I still remember my teacher encouraging us to have face to face conversations.

And as technology has become more advanced and even more a part of our daily lives, I think it is super important that we take the time to have face to face conversations with people.

Phones put away.

Laptops closed.

Coffee cups in hand as we lean forward to discuss life.

Technology was made to enhance relationships, not to distract from them.

I think we sometimes get caught up in numbers. Facebook may say I have over 300 friends… but how many of those people do I actually know? I see the cute pictures my friends post on Facebook and can celebrate their life’s highs from afar, but rarely do people post about the hard things in life. Especially on Instagram where filters and proper angles are key.

I’m not hating on social media. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love seeing what people are up to and how they frame each shot. It’s a great way to know basic information about people. And it can be used to stay in contact with people… I myself just don’t tend to use it that way.

But when social media replaces real, personal friendships?
That I’m not okay with.

Face to face conversations are crucial as we transition from teens to adults.

Rachel recently shared about how we need to open up and be honest with each other about what’s going on in our lives. This is so much easier to do when we have face to face conversations with people, right? Right. ;)

“Facebook with just the face” friendships don’t have to be tricky. In fact, here are five super fun ways to have face to face conversations with your friends.

5 Fun Ways to have Face to Face Conversations:

1. Coffee

I’m a big fan of going to coffee with people. For one thing, coffee is yummy. For another, it’s cheaper than a meal.

But over coffee, my friend and I can catch up on everything that has happened since we last met up. We share stories and laugh at each other’s fun memories. We tell of what we hope to do in the future. We’re honest about how things are between us and Jesus and what we’re learning about Him.

Social media I love, but, man, these coffee-conversations are the best.

2. Shopping

Shopping with friends is so much fun. And there are so many ways to do this (obviously)!

Got no money? Window shop!
Need something specific? Take a friend and have a second opinion!
Wanna travel back in time? Go antique shopping!
Wanna help a good cause? Go OCC shoe box shopping!

3. Make something!

In my town, there’s a little art place where you can paint ceramics. I love going here with my friends because we’re able to have good conversations, but we’re also making somethings. The artwork at hand fills in any awkward silences and helps us think of more things to share.

See if there’s something like that where you live. Or just go to a craft store with a friend and pick up something to paint/make. {Or just window shop in the craft store… Hobby Lobby? My friends and I could stay in there for hours LOL!}

4. Serve

My university has semester-ly service days that my friends and I have participated in. If you’re in college, see if your school has a service day and ask a buddy to go with you.

Or see if your church has a service day coming up, or just volunteer at a local charity.

Not only are you having good conversations with your friend as y’all serve, but you’re also helping other people. So much fun, and so rewarding.

5. Face-time (or Skype)

Sometimes friends live far away, and it’s hard to physically see each other face to face.

However, now we can use face-time to keep in touch with our friends when we are far apart from them!! Yay!

I’ve only had a handful of face-time conversations before, but I love them. When I was studying abroad in Costa Rica, one of my friends and I face-timed for two whole hours without running out of things to say. It was fabulous and completely converted me to be a face-time lover.

I’m so grateful we have technology that allows us to have face to face conversations from a distance!

Face to face conversations are key for a strong friendship.

I hope you’ll pick one of the five ideas above (or brainstorm a different one!) and invite a friend to do it with you. Whichever y’all decide to do, have lots of fun and make lots of memories!

Blessings,
Kara

P.S. Don’t forget to check back here for the other posts in the New To Adulthood series :)

Let’s stay connected! Like Joy Because Grace on Facebook.

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under Friendship. This post has 2 comments.