Classmates

The Importance of Proximity

Although there is limited research on the various methods by which former classmates interacted during the 20th century, considering how changes in the sociological landscape impacted communication between former classmates at the dyadic and group level is helpful for understanding these shifts. For example, changes in educational practices may have made it more difficult for adults to stay in touch with high school friends. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of high school graduates who enrolled in college in the fall following their high school graduation steadily increased from 45 percent of Americans in 1960 to 67 percent of Americans in 2007. College attendance may impact relationship dynamics among high school friends because it often entails physical relocation.

Even for classmates who remain in the same city following high school, relationships may be difficult to maintain because of decreased physical proximity. During the shift from the daily physical interaction that characterizes high school friendships to less frequent encounters following graduation, many friendships fade. While other reasons may also be at play in the dissolution of high school friendships over time, past research has established the importance of proximity in developing and maintaining friendships. For example, Suzanna Rose's research on friendships during the transition [Page 129]from high school to college found that physical separation was the most often-cited reason for the ending of a high school friendship. Likewise, Leon Festinger and colleagues' research on college freshmen's friendships found that proximity had a positive correlation with predicting relationship formation.

One reason why physical separation may have played such a large role in relationship maintenance in the past is that methods for keeping in touch with old friends were more limited than they are today. Prior to the development of online tools, classmates were limited to face-to-face interaction, traditional communication technologies, and word of mouth. For instance, classmates may have kept in touch through face-to-face meetings (planned or spontaneous), letters, or phone calls, or through updates from high school newsletters, local newspapers, or family members and friends.

Online Networking: Overcoming Proximity

The Internet and social media represent a new channel through which classmates can keep in touch and organize at a distance. Americans are more likely to use search engines to find information about old friends than any other category of person, with 36 percent of Internet users searching for former friends compared with just 9 percent of Internet users who search for information on a romantic partner. Recognizing the difficulty associated with finding old classmates, a number of Websites emerged during the 1990s that specifically focused on providing a way for former classmates to reconnect by linking users through the schools they attended. The most popular of these sites, http://Classmates.com, launched in 1995 and allows people to find old classmates and plan reunions. Other event-focused sites such as Evite have also simplified the process of organizing get-togethers with former classmates, although this is not the primary purpose of such sites.

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