Get Off The Internet!
A buddy of mine is on his computer almost 24/7. When he’s not chatting with some girl online, he’s emailing one. When he’s not directly communicating with a woman online, he’s checking their online profiles, or signing up for a new dating site. And when he’s not actually on the internet, he’s talking about being on the internet!
I have to admit that he’s good at what he does. When instant messaging women online he’s smooth, witty, and clever. The man types over 100 words per minute and he makes use of that skill. He dazzles them with his clever use of the English language. I’ve seen him get a new girl to show him more than she probably should on cam after only 20 minutes of chatting. This guy truly is amazing.
Until he meets them in real life that is. Then this funny, confident guy is about as interesting as a door knob. I know because I’ve seen it happen. I t’s almost like he’s thinking, “Oh no! I’ve lost all my emoticons (smiley faces). I’ve forgotten how to form real facial expressions!” He morphs into this shy, awkward, somewhat strange guy that appears to struggle to implement basic social skills. It truly is sad.
But how did he get this way? By hiding in his room all day and not going out to meet real women. Meeting women on the internet is nice. Chatting with them on a service like Yahoo Chat can be a good ice breaker. Spending 99% of your time online without taking it to the next level WILL stunt your growth.
Chatting online with women while in your pajamas from the safety of your bedroom is a world apart from hooking up with someone at Starbucks. You need to develop real confidence in real life. And the only way you’re going to do that is in real life!
It really seems like the accessibility of games like World Of Warcraft has encouraged young men to spend far too much of their time online. Instead of going outside and developing real friendships and participating in team sports, they’re spending 8 hours a day swinging a virtual sword with their online friends. And these aren’t true friends in my opinion. They’re not going to come give your car a jump start when you're stuck on the side of the road in the rain in the middle of the night. They’re not going to take you out for drinks when your girl dumps you. What exactly are they doing for you?
The wide availability of online games and dating sites has allowed young men to craft a life for themselves that exists almost exclusively online. When I was younger, if you wanted a date you had to go up to a woman and ask for one. Now you simply instant message them. I guess the rejection isn’t as painful if you’re not facing them in real life. But it will hurt your development as a man.
The best advice we can offer is to delete your online games. ALL of them! Greatly limit your online chatting. And most importantly, get off the freaking computer and go meet girls in real life! There will be plenty of time for games when you're old and fat.