Have you ever stopped to think about the differences between meeting people now versus how it used to be before technology became a thing? These days you can just download an app or sign up for a website, and BAM! You’re instantly connected to thousands of people. Before technology, it wasn’t so easy; you would have had to go out and meet people in person, as opposed to hiding behind a screen. To some people this way was easier, but to others, they prefer to meet via the Internet.
Just think about it for a moment, the advantages of meeting someone online as opposed to in person. Of course there’s always the concern that said person aren’t who they say they are, but let’s pretend like we exist in a perfect world where people don’t ‘catfish’ you like that. For people who are very shy, introverted or just flat out not good at talking to others, using various forms of technology to communicate with others is a godsend.
The first thing it eliminates is how people often judge you based off of appearance. When talking to someone through messages they get to “know the real you,” as cliché as that sounds. You don’t have to try as hard to impress whoever you’re talking to; you get to just be the real you.
When meeting someone in person, there is a lot more added stress and possible anxiety you have to deal with. What happens if they take one look at you and turn the other way, or pretend like they didn’t see you and pretty much just stand you up, all because of your appearance? At least with talking to someone online you give them time to actually get to know you.
If you choose to meet in person, they will (hopefully) by then know what you look like, so the whole appearance thing shouldn’t be an issue. Before technology came around people basically had to meet others through mutual friends/acquaintances, work, bars, etc., and hope their first impression was a good enough one to warrant a second meeting, or at the least a text or call back.
Now, a lot of people, especially in the older generations, will argue that connections, whether friendships or relationships, made over the internet are not as real or important as ones made in person. This is something I have to disagree with. Not all bonds made online are fake, and not all bonds made in person are genuine. The older generations are always giving younger people so much crap for being completely technology-dependent, yet when younger people try to use it to do exactly what the older people want, they still receive flack for it.
At least with all the apps and sites out there the younger generation is trying to reach out to each other, to build these “meaningful connections” they heard their parents and grandparents tell them so much about when they were growing up. Just because the way they have gone about doing it is totally different, doesn’t mean it’s any less meaningless.