If you’re regularly online, chances are that you’re going to make some friends that you’ve only ever seen online. It can be difficult to have friendships that are purely online, however, and if the opportunity arises for you to meet up with these friends in person, you might want to take it. Here are five things you should do so you can meet up with online friends and still stay safe.
1. Make Sure You Really Know Your Friend
While it can be tempting to meet up with someone you barely know, it can also be one of the less-safe choices you can make when it comes to meeting up with online friends. It’s easy to fake a relationship for a few weeks to gain someone’s trust; it’s much more difficult to fake a relationship for months and years before you meet up with them.
2. Meet Up in a Public Place
This is a great pro tip for anyone who’s meeting up with someone in person for the first time, including online friends, dating app matches, and more. When you meet up with someone, try to choose a public place. A park, museum, café, or something similar could be a great option.
3. Try to Get a Group Together
It can be extremely fun to hang out with someone one-on-one, but if you have other friends in the area, you might want to consider getting a whole group together instead. Getting together in a group can relieve some of the anxiety around meeting up with someone for the first time, making it easier for everyone to enjoy themselves.
4. Prepare for Your Meetup With a General Activity Plan
This plan doesn’t have to be super in-depth. If you just know that you want to spend some time at a specific museum, then go to dinner around a certain time, that’s enough to make sure the meetup goes off smoothly. What you don’t want to do is spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out plans when you meet your friend.
5. Look Into Some Background Information About Your Online Friend
Some background information can help you be even safer when it comes to keeping you safe. Online friends definitely aren’t always dangerous, and it’s true that you don’t have to be super suspicious of everyone. However, just running your friend through a public record search engine can help you clear them of any suspicion, making it easier to meet up with no anxieties.
Conclusion
Meeting up with online friends can be a great experience, but it’s important to stay safe when you do. Whether you run your friend’s information through a public record search engine or you meet up in a public area, there are a variety of ways to stay safe when you’re meeting an online friend for the first time. Use as many of these tips as possible to keep yourself safe when meeting up with a new online friend.
The Evolution and Impact of Mobile Technology
30 September 2023
