Staying in touch with old colleagues

[downer]

Some colleagues become good friends, and if one of you moves it is natural to stay in touch.
Some colleagues are definitely not good friends, and it would be bizarre to stay in touch with them for non-professional reasons once no longer at the same place.

But there's a grey area of colleagues with whom one was friendly, but not really good friends. Do you stay in touch with them?
I find that if they are also on Facebook, it is easy to stay in touch, and there can be a level of low-commitment communication every now and then.
Emailing messages is OK for a bit, and sometimes that can continue for years. Sometimes it just dies off.

I have one ex-colleague who does not do social media but who phones me occasionally. I'm finding that I screen the calls and am not motivated to return the call. I'd be happy to write an email or send messages via social media, but I don't like using the phone.

Isn't it sort of odd these days to use the phone like that?

[mahagonny]

I stay in touch with former colleagues at the university because we still work together at the non-teaching part of life. Some of them are pretty bitter about the teaching scene. If I don't work with them it's a 50/50 chance we have any contact. Facebook has made a difference. I talk with people there whom i probably wouldn't go out of my way to contact.

At the other college, the one that doesn't have tenure, occasionally at a meeting the chair will give us an update about someone who used to teach with us. This never happens at college A because (1) no regular meetings, and (2) the chair barely knows half the people who work there now let alone previously.

[archaeo42]

Some colleagues become good friends, and if one of you moves it is natural to stay in touch.
Some colleagues are definitely not good friends, and it would be bizarre to stay in touch with them for non-professional reasons once no longer at the same place.

But there's a grey area of colleagues with whom one was friendly, but not really good friends. Do you stay in touch with them?
I find that if they are also on Facebook, it is easy to stay in touch, and there can be a level of low-commitment communication every now and then.
Emailing messages is OK for a bit, and sometimes that can continue for years. Sometimes it just dies off.

I have one ex-colleague who does not do social media but who phones me occasionally. I'm finding that I screen the calls and am not motivated to return the call. I'd be happy to write an email or send messages via social media, but I don't like using the phone.

Isn't it sort of odd these days to use the phone like that?

Re: the bolded section, this is where I find texting to be useful. It let's me keep in touch without the time investment of a phone call. There are also some colleagues that fall into that same category where if I run in to them somewhere, it's nice to catch up but I don't necessarily make the effort for regular contact.

[mahagonny]

Some colleagues become good friends, and if one of you moves it is natural to stay in touch.
Some colleagues are definitely not good friends, and it would be bizarre to stay in touch with them for non-professional reasons once no longer at the same place.

I understand you are part time. Are 'colleagues' tenure track or non-TT, primarily? If you have a spare moment you might just satisfy my curiosity.