When we were little, it was easy to make friends. All you had to do was walk up to someone and ask them if they wanted to be friends with you and, suddenly, you were besties. But something happened as we got older. Making friends transformed from the most natural thing in the world to an anxiety-ridden task that most of us avoid, preferring to stay home and stream TV shows rather than venture out into the world to meet new people.
While I don’t know why that transformation happens, I do know that just because we’re bad at making friends doesn’t mean we don’t want to make friends. In fact, I’d say that the difficulty of making friends as an adult ranks up there right under the difficulty of finding a romantic partner, if not worse, because at least there are culturally codified ways to meet a romantic partner.
And that’s where SEECO comes in. SEECO is a “people app” instead of “dating app,” according to their website. Their goal is connect you with people that you could be friends with. It basically makes those intros for you, since as adults it’s not as socially acceptable to walk up to random people and ask if they’ll be your friend.
The app will be familiar to anyone who has used a dating app — or any social media, really. Users create a profile describing themselves, including photos and a brief bio. They can then choose from a list of category types for different “hangs” they’re interested in, including drink, dance, eat, play, listen, and “other.” Users post the specific hangs they want to do in their neighborhood and then “watch people nearby join.”
On the other side, people who are looking to join already-created hangs can search for what they’re looking for by specifying how far away the hangs are, how many people are invited, what type of hang, whether it’s for only one gender or two genders, and whether it’s 21 plus or not. Once someone has gone on a hang, they can review it so that both the app and other users know how it went.
I’ve reviewed a lot of dating apps over the years and I have to say, I like that this app isn’t a dating app — but does have the potential to introduce users to people that they could date, if there are sparks. By arranging “hangs,” SEECO mimics the way we already hang out with friends and, of course, how we meet people who could be our romantic partners. But even if you don’t meet the love of your life on the app, let’s all remember: making friends when you’re a grown up is hard. Get at least the initial, introduction part out of the way by setting up a hang on SEECO.
Photo Credits:
SEECO | Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock
