Manuela López-Restrepo

I'm like choking up a little bit.

Stick around.

Yeah.

I mean, you get tons of little people right there in your phone whenever you want.

Oh my god, yeah.

Whenever I watch old TV shows or movies that kind of show how people used to have to go up to each other and flirt, I yearn for that time of just casual courage.

You know, I try it every once in a while, cold open with a stranger, and I honestly think sometimes people find it kind of strange when I'm willing to go up to them just to try.

Yeah.

I think that's common.

And it goes with this larger feeling for me that no one wants friction anymore.

Life needs to be smooth and streamlined and everything has to go down as easy as possible.

And I think dating apps play a part in that.

It's happened to me many times where I reject someone because I'm like, I could never love somebody who's wearing those shoes.

And then I see them in person and it turns out, wow, this person's actually pretty cute and pretty charming.

And I realize that I'm just being dumb and nitpicky.

And I really think I'm a victim of the forces that Tila is describing here.

No, I would not say it is.

You know, historically, not so well.

I'm a human being.

But as I've gotten older, I've come to recognize that if you have the guts to just put yourself out there, that's enough.