How to find friends at any age

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Don't sit alone, hoping for casual acquaintances. Take action.

Simple tips to help you strike up a friendship

1. Always be yourself. This way you will not fool anyone when meeting you and will not disappoint when they get to know you better.
2. Think carefully about what you value in people most of all and with whom it is easier for you to communicate. Keep this in mind when looking for new friends.
3. Don't be biased, don't judge new people by hearsay or first impression. Get to know the person better, only then draw conclusions.
4. Friendship is a mutually beneficial relationship. Offer help when you see a person needs it. If this is a true friend, then you can count on help in return.
5. Keep in touch with new friends: chat on the Internet, make appointments, try to diversify your joint leisure. But don't be too persistent. If the person ignores you, don't push.
6. Don't worry if new acquaintances lose interest in you. You may have met the wrong people or made mistakes. Analyze the experience and keep looking.

How to find friends online

With the spread of the Internet, many of us began to spend more time in front of the monitor and talk less live. It is a fact. But not everything is so simple. The web is just a tool and everyone uses it differently.

On the Internet, you can see both a refuge from the real world and a powerful means of socialization. The platforms and services, which will be discussed below, introduce a huge number of people every day. Today you can make friends there.

Find friends in online communities

Internet forums, chats in messengers like WhatsApp and Telegram, public pages and groups on Facebook, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and other social networks are all platforms for effectively finding new acquaintances.

You just need to choose the right community, which may include people you are interested in, and gently invite them to get to know each other. Nothing complicated.

If you live in a small town, look for a community based on geography. In large social networks, almost every settlement has local groups like "Typical Bryansk" or "Overheard in Chernigov", where you can communicate with fellow countrymen. To find such a group, you just need to enter the name of your settlement in the service search.

When you find a community, look at its description, read the posts of other users. So you will find out how dating takes place here. Most often, participants directly publish a brief information about themselves with an offer to get acquainted. On VKontakte, such data is usually sent to administrators, who already post it for the rest of the group on behalf of the sender. You can reply to one of these publications or leave your own.

If you are from a large city, then it makes sense to look for a community of interests, without reference to the locality. This can be a chat for discussing cinematography, a public about fishing, or a forum about bodybuilding. Choose what is closer to you.

The main thing is that your city is big and your community is popular. Then your "neighbors" will surely be found among his audience.

In communities of interest, so-called gatherings are popular - mass meetings of participants for acquaintances and spending time together. Such events are organized by the participants themselves or by the administration. An example is the meetings of users of LiveLib, a social platform for book lovers. But before you go to such an event, prove yourself on the site. Participate in discussions, make your own publications - let them notice you and be mistaken for their own.

Some communities of interest have special sections for dating. For example, on the site of the humorous platform Pikabu there is a popular thread called "Dating League". Participants from different cities and countries tell about themselves here and offer to meet offline. After free registration, you can write to someone who interests you, or publish your profile.

Find friends through dating services

The web is full of services designed specifically for dating. Most often, with their help, they are looking for partners for sex or romantic relationships, but nothing prevents you from looking for friends in this way.

In the same Tinder, the world's largest online dating service, you can easily find a person for friendly communication. After registering, clearly indicate in your personal profile that you are looking for a company to simply go to the cinema, to an exhibition, a concert or other event that seems appropriate to you. This is good ground to make friends.

The application will connect to your Facebook and will show profiles of users who are near you and corresponding to your interests. You will be able to anonymously tag those you like. They will do the same with your profile. If the choice is the same, the application will notify both of this and you can start a chat.

There are also services that are tailored specifically for finding friends. They are not as popular, but they perfectly fit your purpose. Such projects include the TourBar travel companion search platform and the MyFriends dating service.

Find friends in online games

If you've never played multiplayer games, then you may not suspect how strong social bonds they create between players. In virtual worlds, they find not only real friends, but even future husbands and wives.

Games like Destiny, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft create situations in which you need to interact with strangers. You join forces with other players for common goals and experience joint adventures. In such conditions, it is easy to get close and find common topics of conversation. If you wish, you can continue to communicate in the real world.

If you are dating online, do not forget about netiquette

1. Tidy up your internet profile. Remove posts and pictures that make you seem worse than you really are.
2. When publishing your profile for future friends, succinctly describe your qualities, dating goals and interests.
3. Try to write correctly, use punctuation marks.
4. Don't overuse emoticons, exclamation marks, and capital letters.
5. Don't split your message into multiple parts unnecessarily. Finish the thought, and then send, so as not to annoy the other person with a stream of notifications.
6. Avoid trivial lines like "Hello, how are you?"
7. Don't swear.
8. Do not joke dirty.
9. Do not argue over trifles, respect the point of view of the interlocutor.
10. Be polite.

If your communication from the virtual world goes into the real one (which is exactly what you want, right?), You will probably need the advice from the next paragraph.

Find offline friends

If you are a person of the old school and do not like all these virtual things, then you can always find interesting people in the real world.

Look for friends at school or work

Schools, universities and offices are the places where people usually make new acquaintances. But since you are reading this article, it means that this option did not work in your case.

If there are people in the team with whom you are not averse to making friends, but no one shows initiative, take it into your own hands. Talk to your boss about joint activities such as an after-work trip to an anti-cafe or bar. You can simply suggest these options directly to your colleagues. An informal atmosphere will create the preconditions for friendly relations.

If you study or work remotely, or there are no like-minded people in the team, there remains a radical way - to change the place of work or study. But before taking decisive action, try the next option.

Find friends in local sections and clubs of interest

Another old-fashioned way to find friends is to sign up for the sports section. It is advisable to choose a team sport like football, hockey or handball. Alternatively, you can think of dancing.

If you don't like active sports, try to find a club of your interests. This could be a place where board games are played or literature is discussed. Choose based on your interests: this will help you find like-minded people. The addresses of such clubs are usually found on the Internet.

Be mindful of manners when communicating in person

1. Before meeting, think about how to make the most of your time. Offer your options to new acquaintances. Ask if they have any suggestions.
2. Don't be late for appointments: no one likes to wait.
3. Do not violate the personal space of the person.
4. Be open to new places, activities and travel.
5. Use psychological tricks to please the other person.