The Best Way To Stay In Touch With Home Friends

It used to be so easy to keep in touch with our friends from home. We saw each other every day and hung out every weekend. If we were bored, we could get to each other’s houses in about five minutes. We knew everything that was going on in each other’s lives.

It was too good to last. As soon as someone moved away for college, that connection weakened. It became harder to find a time when we were all free. It was harder to keep each other updated on every little thing that happened to us throughout the day. Even though we don’t want to lose contact, it’s inevitable to happen anyway.

We can try to schedule group FaceTimes or organize a college visit, but we all know these are things we say we’ll do but never follow through.

On the first day of our freshman year of college, my friends and I began a trend that has lasted us to senior year. We call it PODs, or Picture of the Day. All we have to do is snap a quick pic of whatever we’re up to, add a caption, and send it over to the group chat. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it lets everyone get a glimpse of each other’s day-to-day college lives.

Sending one photo a day has helped us keep the conversation going with little commitment. Sometimes we’re too busy to reply to each other’s PODs, but a quick like or heart of the message reminds us that our friendship is still going strong.

Maintaining relationships from home is a two-way street. Everyone has to do their part to ensure we don’t lose contact, but that doesn’t mean we have to create some elaborate schedule or write up a long paragraph to update each other on our lives. There’s nothing simpler than a photo and caption, and so far, there’s nothing that has made us feel more secure that this friendship will last forever.