When you ask anyone how they meet people now, the obvious answer is through dating apps. Well, we all lost the sense of going outside to find & meet people. Now it’s all about swiping left or right!
It’s not wrong to find someone in online dating apps, but you know, not everyone dares to put up a dating profile. There’s a severe disconnect in the people, and many think dating apps are for hookups/casual sex. There’s too much trash [information] about this on the internet, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
I’m not writing it to bring some awareness to this, but to find ways on how to meet someone without online dating apps. Remember, you can’t just hit on some strangers and expect to have a good conversation. So, what do you think is the right alternative?
How to meet someone without online dating apps?
Of course, the first alternative would be social media apps. I bet many of us stalk people on Instagram! The social media sensation, TikTok, gave birth to a lot of social media celebrities that we feel it’s the right place to begin. Well, you’re almost right. The reason why I don’t recommend either Facebook, Instagram right away is there’s too much trash that you shouldn’t dive in.
When I say this, I typically meant about the influencers. They believe they can make a difference with their posts, but they don’t. With all these non-worthy posts in your timeline, your efforts in connecting with some new people would go in vain. So, the first and foremost place, to begin with, is internet forums that act as UGC aggregators. The reason to start here is to get a sense of ‘what’s new in people’ first, then proceeding to understand their humor, and then connect/communicate.
Understand the Internet Humor
A lot of us would already be using a lot of online platforms to browse MEMEs. It can be Reddit, 9Gag, or IMGUR; all these online platforms give a sense of ‘what’s new in people.’ A decade ago, we weren’t this active, but now, we spend almost 7 hours a day online. It does vary from country to country, but that’s a lot of time. There’s information overload on the internet, and that’s why the majority of us tend to stick to a few platforms that cover everything. As an example, I tend to browse different sections in 9Gag or go through the posts in the HOT section every day.
Okay, here’s what I do, which I believe you do too. ‘Read the comments.’ yes! Maybe on social [especially on YouTube], you tend to see a lot of trash comments which follow a specific template, but in the UGC platforms, you get to explore the real conversations. It’s filled with humor, dark, emotions, and more. You get to read different perspectives of the same story. I don’t have to explain a lot about this, as we often do it subconsciously now. There’s something inside that drives us to know other opinions on a particular post and even share our opinion through comments.
So, to summarise, through UGC platforms, you get to know the new in people’s lives. To make it clear, it’s quite different from the traditional social channels.
Alright, now you know what’s new, now it’s time to put it into action.
Put Your Humor in Action
I don’t believe when someone says they don’t have a sense of humor. Humour and fun are what makes any relationship stronger. For a Millennial or a Gen-Z, using humor for self-defense has become a part of life now. The reason why I suggested to understand the fun in the first place is to get accustomed to the dialect. Now you read or analyzed how the conversations happen outside the social; it’s time to test it.
It is actually where many people tend to get into dating apps and try out different pickup lines to impress. If you read it somewhere, there’s a fair chance that the other person would also read it. Of course, it’s going to fail. In the worst cases, there’s a chance that the other person might not get the lines. I don’t want to get started with the miscommunication part. So, the right way to put your humor in action is in the platforms itself.
As said previously, get into the conversations! You can also use certain IM apps that randomly connects you to people to talk. I know we’re not new to this and have been exploiting for a long time, but they’re the right place to begin.
Once you gain confidence, it’s time to connect or meet people.
Connect With People
Not all social media apps are dating equivalent, but many use it in that way. The whole point of social media websites is to connect & communicate with people around the world. Now, it evolved into something else, and that’s a different topic for some other time. Besides dating apps, the best alternative to find or meet new people is through social media apps. As you mastered the internet humor and partly tested it, it’s time to take things forward.
To begin with, search for the Facebook communities that share the common interests you have. Join & connect with people. Get into the conversations, and be sensible when commenting.
You can be witty, but things are a little different on social when compared to Internet forums. Maybe in the online platforms, you can hide your personality behind a fake identity, but on social, authenticity matters. People tend to ignore it when they sense you’re using a fake profile. So, be YOU.
To sum up, social channels are still the best alternative to meet people without using any online dating apps, but hitting on a random stranger isn’t fruitful. A little sense of humor and a few common interests can make things easy. So being your journey outside the dating apps, and find some real people.
