How Dating Apps Are Ruining The Thrill Of Meeting A Stranger

We use dating apps to optimise our chances of getting to know new people, even though meeting people in real life often proves to be more successful. How can we honestly decide if we like someone by just looking at a few of their photos? Edited photos only show how someone wants to be perceived and in no way indicate how you would perceive them when meeting face to face. We seem to forget that before all these dating apps came along we would actually have to put in some effort to find someone compatible.

We used to randomly meet a person, signal interest and exchange phone numbers. We used to engage in interesting conversations. Now many people complain that the end of traditional dating has come. We complain to friends that it’s hard to meet someone new. Yet we only have ourselves to blame.

Why is it that someone waiting for a bus would rather stare down at their phone instead of starting a short conversation with the cute person standing next to them? We need to bring back to normality of being rejected, the normality of actually talking with each other – without the comfort of screens.

The problem with online dating is that we feel safe behind a screen. There are no boundaries in terms of what we can write. If an opener doesn’t work with one person, you just try it with another person. Sadly, that is very impersonal. In face to face conversation a person would rarely start out by saying “roses are red, weed is greener, I think about you when I touch my wiener”.

The benefit of meeting people in the “real world” is simple. It’s feeling that chemistry. After speaking face to face you quickly recognise whether or not you are interested in the person you are speaking to. Unlike on dating apps, appearances only come in second here.

Many people find it awkward when a stranger comes up and speaks to them. Many of us are also feel too uncomfortable to keep a conversation going, preferring to scroll through an Instagram feed until the bus finally arrives. We aren’t used to “analogue” behaviour ever since smartphones entered our lives.

Yet we’d love it, if more people opened themselves up towards the idea of speaking to strangers. Take a leap of faith and just start a conversation with a stranger. Remove yourself from your screens and place yourselves into the real world. We’re here to help!

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