What happens when you seek friends outside of Facebook? Here’s a funny story.
Looking for Friends
Tom wanted to find new friends in the real world, the world that exists outside of Facebook, so he left his office to search for them.
He walked out on the street, with his eyes facing straight ahead, not down at his cellular phone. To get the attention of people and find friends, he shouted out loud anything he thought about.
Tom told everyone he saw what he ate today, where he drank his coffee, and how he felt.
He also showed a photo of his boss to a lot of people, without considering whether they had any interest of seeing a photo of someone they didn’t know.
When Tom saw people doing something interesting, he shouted at them, “Hi, I like it”, and tapped on their back.
Tom also said “wow” many times, and complimented people on their looks, hairdo and clothes. He did so even though he didn’t like them, and didn’t like what they wore. He just wanted people to like him.
Tom continues walking, passing through various streets, while contemplating in a loud voice about the meaning of life, and giving advice to people on the street, many of them complete strangers.
He also shared with everyone on the street how he felt, what he liked and what he didn’t like. He spoke about what he intended to do today and tomorrow, without stopping to think if the people cared about this at all.
Tom talked with people, whom he never met and didn’t know who they were. This actually, was not a real conversation, but some kind meaningless words and syllables, such as “wow”, “oh”, “good”, “great” and “that’s right”.
After doing this for a while, Tom looked at his watch and was surprised to discover that more than one hour has passed.
He was quite happy with the number of followers (friends?) he gained so far. In one hour he already got five followers! Two followers were cops who received complaints about him. One follower was a psychiatrist, who wanted to help him, one a social worker and one angry woman.
Getting Friends in the Real World Is Different from Finding Them on the Social Media
When Tom returned to his office, he thought that maybe he should stick with making friends in the virtual world and not in the real world. He arrived to the conclusion that acting ‘the Facebook style’ in the real world was not the right thing to do.
He realized that he needed to look for friends in the old fashioned way, which was fast disappearing, and will be soon mentioned only in history books.
He also concluded that finding friends and followers in the virtual world, the Facebook style, is much easier, required less effort, and did not require interaction with people or the possession of social skills.
However, he wanted more than just virtual friends, with whom he could talk just in syllables and single words. He craved for real conversations.
Tom discovered that looking for friends in the real world was tiring, and required the physical effort walking, talking, and looking at the people you talk with. It also involved the need to notice the world around you and using all the five senses.
Are you trying to find real and true friends in the real world, or just virtual friends on the Social Media?
It’s important for anyone who wishes to succeed in life to learn social skills, increase attention span, and meet real people.
