I live right on a college campus, which puts me in contact with a lot of people my age, and we are all on social media. Because we’re all so connected in a way no generation has ever been, you can feel like you know someone even when you’ve never met. I’ve been noticing this creating some interesting situations that are completely unique to the millennial generation. Here are a few:
The Digital Acquaintance: Maybe you go to the same school, maybe you work together – whatever it is, you had enough mutual friends to send that friend request or click that follow button, but have never really crossed paths. But now you’re standing in line for some coffee and that guy who knows someone you know and followed you seven months ago but has never actually liked any of your pictures before is right in front of you, and you don’t know if you should say something to him or not. A moment of indecision, unfathomable a decade ago, and yet plagues millennials worldwide, whether they admit it or not. My advice is simply go for it! Chances are, they know who you are too and they’re thinking the exact same thing you are. If they do recognize you and you strike up a conversation, congratulations, you have a new friend. If they don’t recognize you, don’t panic: You already have a mutual conversation topic, and a good one at that (people love to talk about their own social media, so just stick with that and you’re golden).
The Stalker and the Stalkee: This situation begins in a similar way: You end up next to or in the room with someone you recognize from social media. But, after thinking it over, you realize that you guys don’t follow each other at all; you just went way down the rabbit hole of people tagged in other people’s photos and went three years deep on this person’s Instagram and they have no idea. This is a situation truly unique to the information age, where it has become habit to post very personal things on public accounts. At this point, half of you wants to walk up to them and, without introduction, ask them how their mission trip to Peru in 2013 was. But the other half of you is too full of shame over anonymously browsing through their life to do something like that.
The Flickering Flame: This is the final and most high-stakes interpersonal mini-drama created by the internet age, and it occurs when you spot someone you matched with on Tinder but never messaged. Now, this may seem like a disaster waiting to happen, but it’s really a blessing in disguise. Swiping right on someone on Tinder states that you are attracted to what that person wants people to think they look like, not what they actually look like. But now, in actual unedited, filter-less, acne-having real life, you get to see what they really look like. But the advantages don’t stop at visual honesty; you also get some insight into their mannerisms, hear how they talk, and how they treat others. And if you still like what you see, go say hi. If you realize that this person is better at Photoshop than they are at having a conversation, keep your distance.
So, what should you take away from this? I’m not sure, to be
honest. If everybody knew what to do in these situations, they wouldn’t be
awkward. So maybe we'll just a laugh a little
bit at our pain and hope we can avoid these
