A sensitive thought, Sir! But very possible, if someone had the opportunity to go to a place where there is someone we know there.
there's a genuine connection there.
I agree with you that we are not exaggerating everything about our personal lives here; everyone has their own limits.
I see a lot of people genuinely building interactions with other people they don't know at all, and they don't even know who a person really is except for things they have shared on the blockchain or other social media platforms.
Genuine interaction will "look" real in every interaction and will last for a long time, as long as they are willing to be with each other.
Would you want to have coffee and a chat with me in the real world based on what you know from the blockchain?
That's the question I've been waiting for from someone I've never met in real life.
There is always a desire to meet in person and face-to-face with someone we already know through cyberspace. I hope one day I can sit at a table and enjoy a cup of coffee with you.
What I already know about you from your writings is the gateway to our face-to-face conversations.
I've met several people I know in cyberspace; we did ground coffee and chatted as if we had known each other for a long time. Even though many people refused to meet, that was a normal thing as a sign that there was no sincerity in the connection.
Awkward, in my opinion, is when a person is not himself when meeting someone for the first time.
Have a nice weekend
Despite withholding aspects of one's life and information too, I believe a connection of sorts is possible here, I guess it depends on the individuals involved; some will connect better than others and some not at all.
I do not believe social media and online methods of communication to be the best form of it, I'm a face to face guy, preferring to read the body language and enjoy the connection that can bring: Facial expressions, hand and body movement and other things, the way the sunlight and breeze catches a girls' hair for instance. That's not possible via social media. Having said that, I know connections can be made...and broken too. It's easier to lie over the internet, in real life not so easy.
On the awkwardness in a first meeting...I think that depends on the people and how compatible they are, how natural the connection is. I've had awkward meetings with people and some that have gone really well...as you say, being oneself is the key. We can't be anyone else so might as well own being ourselves.