Getting the Girls Back Together

Photo Credit: Kiko Jimenez/Shutterstock

I have a group of girlfriends from college that are my ride-or-dies. We were together constantly in college and they were all bridesmaids in my wedding. Since graduating college, we have all spread out and started our own lives, so we have drifted apart. We have a group text, but we don’t use it all that often — just for the occasional check in or note of encouragement.

Recently, since COVID-19, one of the girls in our group sent everyone an invitation via text to join Marco Polo. It’s an app that lets you record short videos in a group format. It’s just like texting, but with videos. It has changed the face of our friendships.

What was once the occasional text is now everyday conversations on a variety of topics. You don’t have to spend time typing anything out, you can just pop on and talk while you’re doing something else, so it is incredibly easy. I get to see my girls faces and hear them speak, something I didn’t realize I was missing so much over texts. Things don’t get lost in translation, because you can hear and see all the nuances of non-verbal communication that you can’t pick up over text.

It is such a simple thing, but it is so enriching to see and hear the people you love, the people you thought you’d drifted apart from, on a daily basis and to be able to share in even a small portion of their lives from so far apart. Technology is constantly amazing me, but the way it has recently changed my friendships might be its most amazing feat yet.