Re:The Rise and Fall of Couchsurfing
by kpennell on Friday June 14, 2013 @02:48PM
(#5881678)
Meetups suffer from this too...You can chat for a couple hours and "connect" but it's really really hard to take it beyond that. I dislike it but am guilty of it too, it's too hard to take a chance on giving people more of your valuable time, I suppose?
[ Parent
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Well, how much easier is it to 'connect' in other settings? Do you connect more significantly with colleagues? random people you meet at clubs, bars, or other types of social events?
I'd say the 'connection' problem is equally real outside of meetups, and more an issue of post-college life:
First, there is almost no institutional 'mingling' (outside of work anyways). Second, we stop having the massive amounts of free time that we used to have in school and/or college to goof around with others. And third, we have less energy and often more responsibilities in the bit of free time we have left.
Add to that perhaps a general increase in weariness, 'emotional scarring', and decrease in energy and decreased need for socializing (for some of us anyways), and the whole concept of 'connecting' with new people in a post-education, full-time work life (for you AND them) becomes a serious challenge...