Relationship boundaries are very difficult. It’s a tricky thing trying to tack a label on how well you know a person. And when you roll the college experience into it, that’s where things get really messy, similar to wiping you hands with a napkin of coagulated grease.

With an increasing amount of social interaction occurring on networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia, it appears as though we’ve begun to lose sight of what appropriate interaction in the “real world” looks like. Rather than bright and cheerful exclamations of recognition, college students have reverted to dull and shady remarks that attempt to pass as “conversation.”

Walking to class should be an easy task.

Should.

Instead, it always ends up as an elaborate game of “Who Deserves to be Waved at Today?” where the winners receive a glimpse at your limp-wristed palm shake. It’s not that any college student is more conceited than another, it just gets exhausting exchanging cordial salutations to every person you know.

Even typing that last sentence required a 30-minute power nap.

It goes without saying that not every relationship is the same. Some people are “friends,” some people are “best friends,” some people are “friends with benefits,” some people are “friends with benefits and a health care plan” and so on.

This should not reflect poorly on any one individual just because they don’t fall into a specific category. Some people are just “classmates.” You really share nothing in common besides the fact that you both choose not to pay attention to the same professor.

Sadly, this makes it difficult to know how to interact with each other outside of the classroom. It is important to keep in mind that most people aren’t complete jerks – most students are actually decent individuals looking for other cool people (such as yourself). As a matter of fact, I met most of my now-friends through a series of aggressive friend-making tactics, and after countless discussions of “We don’t need another friend” and “You’re being weird, please stop,” I was eventually let into the group.

This was good news for me since close friends are much easier to deal with. Usually an exchange between two “BFFs” involves a bombardment of familial vulgarities followed by “See you back at the apartment …” Harsh? Maybe, but friends have a public image to uphold, and other students can’t be allowed to witness any sincerity or compassion.

So, where is the line? What is an acceptable acknowledgment? Unfortunately, these questions can only be answered on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps a dude head-nod here, a meekly delivered “Sup?” there, and it might even be time to bring back the curtsy.

Regardless of how we do it, I think it’s time that we all started acknowledging each other’s presence more, despite how well we know each other. No need to get creepy about it – social interaction isn’t always about hitting on stranger – but let’s at least act as though we all have something in common: we all want to find that person who will be our “friends with benefits plus a health care plan.”

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