Fifty years ago, meeting new people was only possible by going outside and putting yourself out there. Today, that is no longer necessary. Today, thanks to social media, making new friends is possible from the comfort of your own home. Although it might not always be safe, social media definitely allows people to connect with others from all cultures and backgrounds, connecting people who might have never met otherwise.
There are countless social media apps that facilitate the creation of new friendships. It is most common for teenagers to use this as a method of meeting new people. This method became more popular thanks to the Covid pandemic. Although everyone was forced to stay at home, social media allowed people to stay in touch with their friends and even make new ones.
“I made a lot of friends during the pandemic through TikTok and Instagram,” sophomore Arturo Valderrama said.
Not only has social media been a medium for meeting new people, but video games too. There are video games that have chat options where people can interact and eventually move to other social media apps to deepen the relationship.
“I’m not friends with a lot of them anymore, but I met a lot of people when I used to play Genshin Impact,” senior Ariana Arévalo said.
Although many might find it an easier and effortless way to meet new people, most prefer meeting friends in person. Students have found that, through a screen, it’s more difficult to build genuine connections with others. Additionally, it’s harder to read people’s intentions and what they truly are feeling.
“It is not only safer to meet people in person, but it is also easier to read people face to face,” Valderrama said.
There might not be an absolute fool-proof method to ensure the person behind the screen is truly who they say they are or are honest with their intentions, but there are still methods to be able to tell whether an account is a catfish.
“The people I’ve met online I’ve gotten on calls with them and I got to know their friends as well,” senior Yahya Metwalli said. “That’s how you know a person is real.”
While ensuring a person is not a catfish might not seem important to some, it is definitely vital to do this before a meet-up with someone a person has met online. Failing to do so before meeting an online friend in person might be dangerous, because they might not be the person they said they were.
“I would meet my [online] friend that goes to a different MCPS school,” junior Mya Andriamalala said. “It would definitely be in public and in a group of people.”
Although it does come with its own risks, the internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for meeting new people from all around the world, forming friendships and relationships between people who might not have met otherwise.