I am not joking when I say that I thinked for hours about how do people find each other in 2025.
Currently, the world is in very weird state. People online are either using social video platforms or they are reading news or lurking in online forums in it’s different shapes and forms.
Most chat platforms that I know had shut down and most alt social platforms are almost dead. Even Hackernews had started to see a lower amount of comments compared to previous years.
I want a serious answer, how should I find people online to talk to about anything really other than politics?
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I met someone on Reddit about 5 years ago whilst talking about making a smart mirror for fun. Ended up not making the mirror but did end up in a relationship from it. Was random, I had never exchanged dm’s with anyone before that.
I don’t have an answer about online methods… I went through the phase of how to meet people as well, and eventually decided to join / try out some group activities. I did some rookie dragon boating, table tennis, stand up paddle, and eventually met my forever spouse as she taught me scuba diving. PS: other than the scuba diving, those were all free activities for beginners. Good luck
Meeting people is much possible in the real world.
Is it? Fucking where? And how? Because all the people I know I’ve met through dating apps up, online forums, or knew them from school or uni. I have plenty of hobbies, but there aren’t any even vaguely related groups for them, and if they are, they aren’t very discoverable.
How do you not meet people? Even if you’re stuck in front of a computer all day you can go out to a pub or something at the weekend. Put yourself in a social environment and be friendly. It sounds like you even have experience of that from school and uni.
People at the pub don’t talk to strangers, bruh, pls tell me your so-called “advice” isn’t to literally just harass random stranger groups just having a day out at the pub. As an extraverted person please don’t do that, that’s gonna get the cops called on ye sooner or later, most of us are just being polite.
At school you are in forced social situations where you have to bond to “survive” (ask for advice/help to pass classes), less at uni, but it still helps. That’s why the friends I have from there I’m honestly relatively distant with because we don’t actually have much in common except past shared experience.
I do meet people plenty, all initially online though, not IRL. Dating apps have been where I met most of my friends.
I’m in the US with no car (and not in a city), and don’t drink. No idea on anything that could even be mistaken for a social environment, especially when it requires money.
I mean yeah I’m also not wired for that, so add in other issues/oddities and that’s just how it is I guess.
What do other people in your area do?
From what I see from family, it probably involves drinking or travel/expenses beyond me (also, with their existing connections). Though these days if it’s not work or shopping they probably are staying home more often than not.
I ride my bike on a multi-use trail, but given the sparse area not good odds to meet anyone due to multiple reasons.
For me, what worked best has been smaller sites/communities! Specifically art/roleplay spaces (with the caveat these spaces also have a lot of drama and people who live for said drama) and virtual pet sites somehow lol. But I also feel like people online just aren’t as interested in talking or having actual conversations as much as they used to, so it’s less about looking in specific places and more about just… Getting lucky and finding someone on your same wavelength I suppose.
Gaming can be another way to meet people too. Can’t speak from experience there, but my brother was super involved in the Hearts of Iron IV modding community for years and made friends through it!
Videogames.
What is it that you want to talk about? There’s plenty about programming, math, and stuff like that. Maybe other stuff too, but that’s the stuff I’m into. Hacker News is definitely overrated and always has been though.
What things are you interested in? Video games, ttrpgs, anime, cinema, woodworking, sports, fast cars, sneakers, programming, yoga, wines, bdsm, books, drawing, dogs, veganism, religion, music, hiking?
Whatever the answer is, find a community for it or adjacent to it. On Lemmy, Reddit, Discord, Matrix, or some obscure forum.
And then, the last step, is engage with that community.
This.
I want a serious answer, how should I find people online to talk to about anything really other than politics?
You don’t.
You don’t find people online (or IRL) waiting for strangers to start a discussion on some random topic you feel like talking about. Because people, unlike trolls, are busy with their live.
What you can find is people willing to discuss with someone they find interesting or, with any luck, intriguing on whatever topic you both are interested in.
So, what are you interested in? Have you any hobbies, interests, passions? Find small communities around those topics you’re interested in, and start posting. Do the work to show you’re there and that, maybe, you’re worth discussing with.
We could easily make some sort of Lemmy instance where lonely people could find friendship and love, right? Maybe it’s been created already? I met my now wife online (about a decade ago) so don’t lose hope, you never know what tomorrow holds!
They don’t.
If you want to talk to real people you’ve got to go out in the real world.
Volunteer for something. Animal shelters and community theaters always need extra hands.
Animal rescue is a great way to meet awesome people. Animal lovers tend to be laid back and compassionate, and if you love animals, you always have something interesting to talk about.
VRChat is an option. Takes effort to make your way to the cool people tho.
Ancients or relics depending on your timezone OP. That’s the good shit, some of the coolest people I’ve met.
You make bids for connection and continue the ones that are reciprocated.
No disrespect, but I laughed when I read your comment.
That is exactly what I am asking, Where do I do that?
🌹
Make comments that leave room for discussion, ask people what they think about things, continue conversations that start, etc. Be open.
I’m not sure this is a good place to cultivate conversation but it’s certainly possible.
Look into your communities events pages or whatever it’ll be called and look for things that might be your interest adjacent. Go to community centers and look at their boards. Find a thing you’re vaguely interested in ago go. Then meet people there who can either tell you about other things that you might be interested in or continue what you’re doing. Churches often have good community boards too, depends on the church. Some are far less evangelical than others, your results may vary.
Seriously though the only places I’ve seen any kind of thriving community are invite-only private torrent tracker sites.
I have an IRL friend who always goes like "oh, sorry, its invite-only torrent (￣y▽,￣)╭ "
That’s lame, you’re only supposed to be inviting people you really know IRL anyway… Weak excuse from your friend, if you’re willing to seed.
