I spent months of my life scrolling down on Facebook, feeding myself with what life looked like in the photos of others. The things they were bragging about, that is.
And it felt real. The worse part was that I wanted to be the same.
Good thing I figured out that was a waste of my time and of one’s life in the long run.
Ever spent time staring at photographs of other people, swiping left or right? Yeah, me too. What I once called A Tinder story, is another online story, and a lesson.
People need to meet in real life, not be judged on a set of 6 photos. It’s not a beauty pageant. Oh well, I guess I’m too comfortable and cannot be bothered to get out of bed if the reason is not good enough. Stupid technology.
Now, if you decide and commit to travelling and make it a priority (as I did), people have this admiring and let-me-get-out-of-your-way attitude. It’s the same story every time. A perfect first date, always a first. Geeeez, it warns me out sometimes. I’m not arguing I shouldn’t. But maybe the initial “recruiting process” has some faulty basics.
I guess not “obeying” the society’s standard to get a “normal” job, plan to marry and have one or two kids by the time I get 30, just throws me out of the eligible-possible-amazing-future-partners list.
I get puzzled by this paradox. People like me for my passions, and my will and the “courage” to live a “different” life. But at the same time, don’t like me enough to have me into their lives. Now, who’s the weirdo?!
But my optimism has never seized to amaze me. After the Tinder story went to shit, I decided to act on it and try harder. But constantly swiping left (ah, that would be a NO) led me to the question: “What am I doing here?”.
As I am wasting time (yes, I could be sleeping or working on my blog instead), I have this internal dialogue. “I should write in my description that I have no idea what am I doing here because, most of you guys, are not what I am looking for.
Some years ago, people were (somehow) becoming friends on Facebook. Friends of friends of someone. That is not happening anymore. It’s like everyone has a Tinder profile now and it’s just too much. There are too many people on that thing called Tinder.
Yes, I am a hater now. We, the Tinder people, I believe, are among the people who have no idea why are we using an app to meet other people and FYI… it’s stupid. (Or maybe we are the stupid ones. We are the app)
Some argue that travellers are those people trying to escape from their life. Maybe we travel to explore something more. Something beyond a life lived behind a screen, judging people the same way we judge products off a shelf. Or to travel somewhere where all these concepts are nothing more than… far away ideas.
But I ask you this….
Is technology making us grow more far apart, turning us into nothing more than assets and products?
[…] is made up of people selling almost everything on Fiverr, from articles, diploma projects and Tinder profile […]
I think it’s to do with life trying to convince us that everything’s a competition and that we have to be the best (we don’t). As much as we can feel bad about being single, swiping left allows us to feel that we are in control, that we have power, that we are better than our potential suitors.
In one of your other posts you spoke about people always asking about favourite destinations. I tend to find people also, then want to tell you about their favourite destination and ‘how much nicer it is’ than the place you reluctantly offered as a favourite.
Same can be said for photography. People always tell me to enter photography competitions and ‘become famous!’. Art/beauty isn’t a competition, neither are people or places. If we accept and appreciate the value of each person/thing we encounter, rejoice in that moment, then the world becomes a much nicer place.
Sorry for the ‘bit of a rant’ lol
Thank you, Ian! I now realise I’ve missed the point of people bragging. But thank you for clarifying it.
I agree: it’s not a competition, and if it is, then I to be part of it.
To sum it up in one sentence, I would say: Enjoy the moment, because each moment is perfect!