Awkward...

So, today I'm going to talk about one of those topics that we all think about but never really talk about--the rules of social awkwardness. Then again, maybe I'm the only one who thinks about these things (in which case, this is a little awkward).

Actually, I'm only going to hit a small subset of these rules. To cover them all would require a book. For this post we'll stick to the friend quota.

What is the friend quota? Put simply it is the amount of time you can spend with a friend before you become a nuisance. Ok, so there are a few other variables besides time, but that is the major one. Another name for this is "overstaying your welcome." There seems to be this unwritten rule that you must carefully manage your interactions with friends so as not to become overbearing or awkward. This can create a fear of exceeding the friend quota when we want to get to know a person better or just spend some extra time with a friend.

How much time is too much? Anything more than normal. That is generally the way social awkwardness works--anything unexpected or out of the ordinary has the potential to create an awkward moment. So, you have a friend that you kinda know, but don't spend much time talking to. You start sitting next to this friend in class, joining him/her for lunch, chatting on Facebook, etc. Awkward? Hey, I've weirded people out just by saying hi to them on Facebook once.

Of course, this kind of social awkwardness is worst with people you don't know (which can explain why it is sometimes hard to make new friends). After all, you can't get to know a person when the friend quota equals zero. Add to that the problem of not knowing what to talk about (that's a whole 'nother subject) and you have yourself a mess.

So, you see a classmate eating lunch and you want to meet this person. No particular reason--just want to try to make a new friend. Or you see a stranger playing piano and you think to yourself "He plays piano, I play piano...I should introduce myself!" These situations scream warnings of social awkwardness. And I can't say that there wasn't any. But I know that the friends I made in both of those situations were worth it.