Comment by poemxo
4 days ago
"Meetups" are glorified pickup activities, hookup culture is too prevalent, and people are kind of gross when they're getting drunk. I don't drink, I don't smoke. Why would I want to do any of that when I could talk online to my friends about actual nerdy stuff, instead of having to listen to someone using nerdy stuff as a "common ground" but whose interests are far more singular than that? The article says internet usage is up 90%, much of that is probably socially motivated, especially if your interests are any degree above extremely ordinary.
you can go to a meetup and not drink, nor smoke, nor hit on people?
If you're hit on yourself, politely decline, and strike up a different topic of conversation.
Most of the meetups I attend are not "glorified pickup activities".
There are also plenty of nerdy meetups. Some of the biggest nerds I know I've met through board game and trivia meetups.