Friendship and Absence

"Distance does not dissolve the friendship without qualification, but only its activity. But if the absence is long, it also seems to cause the friendship to be forgotten." - Book VIII, Chapter IV

After reading this quote I began to think about how true and unfortunate this statement really is. I'm sure almost everyone can think back to their childhood or even high school friends and realize just how distant many of those relationships have grown. However, with the connections our generation has grown accustomed to, could it be possible that we have the ability to nurture our long-distant friendships more successfully than those of the past? As long as the individual is willing to put forth the effort, cell phones and facebook seem to make that task relatively simple. Now I do not mean to say that either of these alternative means of communication could ever replace the value of real quality time, but they can work as a useful tool in keeping the relationship active. Is this a good change? Maybe the purpose of separation is to keep our friendships limited to a small, more intimate number as oppose to everyone desperately trying to grasp a hold of their past. Regardless, separation seems to be an inevitable part of life and I think the relationships that pass us by are falling more into our own hands and less in the hands of time and distance.