Sometime in the distant past, when I was younger parties consisted of dozens of people. When there was an outing, birthday or just to go hang out, the entire phone list was called; and the phone list was big. Now, the circle of friends has dwindled to a handful and meeting people is no longer a matter to going to school and meeting friend’s friends.
So you’re no longer in school and the office consists of half a dozen old ladies, where do you go to meet new people?
1) Bars/clubs/lounges:
These are probably the places that first come to mind when one thinks of socialization, but are in fact probably the worst place to meet new people. Reasons are simple, they’re loud, crowded and provide very few opportunities to introduce yourself. Most conversations at clubs consist of a few simple words and nothing more.
2) The gym:
Again one of the places that comes to mind when thinking about place to meet new people but probably not the best of choices. Most people go to the gym to, guess what? Work out! Many don’t like to be bothered with chit chat because if you’re chit chatting you’re not exercising. Obviously if you’ve got an amazing physique your chances are probably better than the couch potato on his fast day in the gym, but on average not the best pick up place.
3) The mall:
The various malls around the world are surprisingly good place to meet new people. Most people that go to the malls have time on their hands and won’t mind chatting. There are also usually topics of mutual interest (for example items in a particular store) that can be brought up. The environment is relaxing (designed to keep you in the stores to buy more merchandise) and conducive to socializing.
4) (insert interest) classes:
Interest classes are a great place to meet new people. People that go obviously have the same interest as you, an automatic topic starter. Smaller classes are also designed to have a very social atmosphere so that all the students get to know each other. Lastly there are often exercises or projects that require close team work.
5) Online dating/social networking sites:
This one is both good and bad depending which site you visit. In terms of raw numbers this is the best place as you can “meet” hundreds of new people in a very short span of time. The downside is of course the chances of continued interaction with any particular person are rather low. The trend seems to be more involvement in social networking sites around the world, which may help make it a closer approximation of real interaction.
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Tags: Bars/clubs, chit chat, circle of friends, couch potato, gym, Interest classes, mutual interest, new people, old ladies, Online dating, social networking, The mall, younger parties
