I feel like my generation lives on social media. Ok so I know we do! I have found myself talking to this girl that I met online. We've been messaging for about a week now and we talk about all kinds of things. However, I feel like we are having our first day through messaging. The first date should be where you get to know the person and talk about all your favorites and and such. But we've been doing that already. I love talking to her and we are finally meeting in person this Wednesday. I'm nervous; not so much about if we'd get along but more about if I could be as confident in person as I am over messaging. *I was just curious as to how you all felt about social media taking some of the intensity or spark out of a first date.
Hey Seneca, Thank you for asking such a wonderful question! I hope you get a bunch of responses here on EC! Being from an older generation, I can say that 'getting to know' someone via messaging or email or Facebook had nothing to do with getting to know someone IRL. Not to add any anxiety, but you SHOULD be nervous about your first real date. (Not terrified or put-off, just sensitive or maybe even hyper-aware, depending on your own personality.) The main issue, to me, is that people on Social Media and Messaging apps aren't always the same IRL, by any means. But oftentimes these days, in my experience as Old-Gen, what that actually means is that even if one or both of you end up being socially awkward IRL, you have to draw each other out and talk about the things you had in common in your online/text discussions. THEN you can really start to get to KNOW each other. Now, this isn't always the case, of course. Perhaps you will hit it off as quickly IRL as you do in your online/text discussions. But if you go into it prepared for that kind of awkwardness and can work to get into a real-life familiarity like you have 'anonymously,' your relationship will take a positive leap forward! And probably take on a whole new meaning for both of you. Best of luck!
