this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
558 points (98.1% liked)

Greentext

7010 readers
444 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 50 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Join a club. There's fliers everywhere.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah clubs/societies are the places to meet people. No one wants so socialise in class.

Exactly. I just want to get in, get out, and not be late to the next one. I'm paying to listen to the idiot in the front, I'm going to get my money's worth.

[–] Shamber@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Wow, college has turned rough, to many anxieties, I had fun in college, met new ppl, met my college gf of 3 years no fraternity needed not even socialmedia...and I'm just 44, already someone is calling anon a creep without any prior knowledge of the person or any context, it's that easy now to to judge people and call anyone a creep ...and they are wondering why are ppl lonely, single and anxious

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A boomer told me that he observes younger generations as being stand off-ish. I don't disagree. I suppose having grown up with "stranger danger" message being drilled into us made us that way. I don't want to start a generation fight and blame boomers, but who are the parents of millenials who taught us the message that made us hypervigilant? The stranger danger message has merit, but if older generations are complaining why we behave that way, you reap what you sow as the saying goes.

Another consideration is that if Anon is Gen Z, it is very likely that his peers grew up with constant attention to online and digital presence, which makes them socially awkward. It didn't help either that much of Gen Z spent two years cooped up in their own homes during the pandemic. It does not take a genius to figure out what those two phenomena does to an entire generation.

[–] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You may be interested in reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone

There's a lot to blame - dual income households, suburbanization, religion declining in popularity (religious communities are communities)

[–] Lightfire228@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Decline in local communities sounds like a natural result of mass communication and globalization, imo

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Eh there are a lot of factors, including how your city is designed. Car centric cities usually have less sense of community than cities with good transit or walkability. This is because nobody chats with the person next to them in traffic but some people will chat on the street or on the train. But on the flip side, car centric small towns can have a lot of community, mostly because the place is so small everyone kinda knows everyone and most people rely on the same businesses.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Well, posting green-texts is a fair indicator IMO (I mean it's fake but let's pretend).

[–] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 59 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (7 children)

It's funny how this post is just a greentext story about a guy trying to talk to a girl in class. But some of the comments are negative or have such divisive vote ratios: assume bad hygiene or "Seems like an appropriate response to a man who takes a womens studies course to try and pick up women"

Am I the only one that's surprised that the comments are so negative? The interaction from the greentext seems like a somewhat "standard" thing to happen in one's life

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It does seem to be a very 21st century thing to treat an unwanted romantic conversational overture as a form of assault.

I suspect it's even more so with terminally online people who are too socially awkward to be able to just brush someone off and move on, without being haunted by it for the next four decades.

I get that sometimes there are men who go too far and make a situation untenable, and absolutely fuck those guys, but overall I think we're going in the wrong direction in society where people just don't talk to each other any more.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It doesn't even have to be romantic.

Try calling anyone under 30 on the phone. They also think you are assaulting and traumatizing them. Or just ask someone a direct question to their face, however innocuous...

Everyone is terminally online now. And asking them to give you their direct one on one attention is considered demanding and rude. Everything has to be a text or a chat. Half the time when you interact with people IRL, they are on their phones. I see so many couples at bars now who are just... sitting there together on their phones.

I have a dog. She loves people and likes asking strangers for pets. People over 40/50 are happy to chat me up about my dog, ask me what her name is, make a comment about how cute she is. People under that age look like I am attacking them if I try to socialize with them about me dog. They just want to pet her and run away asap. they don't ask me what breed she is, what her name is, or anything. They avoid all eye contact or conversation with me. It's insane. Male or female.

People generally only want to socialize with people they already know and they primary want to do it via group chat or discord. Everyone and everything else is 'scary' or gives them 'anxiety'.

Hell I told a person in line at the book store a few months ago she and it was really good and I'd read it I hope she enjoys it. She looked at me with daggers in her eyes, didn't smile, said nothing. She was clearly around 30 too. It's insane. 5-10 years ago that person would have been like 'oh cool thanks! yeah I'm excited'. I remember being able to talk to people in book stores... about books. Nowadays... nope you are assaulting/attacking someone if you talk to them about books in a bookstore. Unless it's an employee.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (5 children)

assume bad hygiene or “Seems like an appropriate response to a man who takes a womens studies course to try and pick up women”

I gotta say, I never had any of these problems in college. And I won't even pretend I had great hygiene or particularly good social skills. The trick with college is that 19 year old girls also didn't have great hygiene or well-developed social skills. We were all a bunch of clueless, fumbling, young adults trying to figure each other out.

Let's set aside the fact that OP is probably lying. When one guy gets ostracized by an entire classroom of other students, it's safe to assume one of two things:

  • The classroom is full of bigots who hate This One Guy for a very particular cultural reason (maybe you made a mistake going to South Confederacy Technical College as a black guy looking to meet white chicks)

  • The guy is so universally obnoxious that he can't get the time of day from the second biggest loser in the room

Am I the only one that’s surprised that the comments are so negative?

If it was posted on anything but 4chan, maybe. But anyone who knows the reputation of the average 4chan user can come up with a host of reasons why people are avoiding him like the plague.

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 9 points 2 days ago

Honestly, I have seen many classrooms in which no one was talking to anyone. There would be a break in the lecture, and the lecture hall would be absolutely silent for 10-15 minutes until the lecture resumed. Other classes were a bit more chattery, or even way more. As a teacher now, it seems anecdotally that the problem is getting worse, but that’s what every teacher always said (“these younger generations!! Mumble mumble”)

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 16 points 3 days ago

The trick with college is that 19 year old girls also didn't have great hygiene or well-developed social skills. We were all a bunch of clueless, fumbling, young adults trying to figure each other out.

Brother, ain't this the truth.

I didn't make any friends with my same-age classmates just by casually talking.

Then I went to night classes with full grown adults and i was invited to dinners and birthday parties immediately.

[–] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The post says that people weren't avoiding him specifically, but no one was talking to one another at all.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] papertowels@mander.xyz 95 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (8 children)

Also, when people say meet others at college they don't mean in the classes, especially not in the lecture halls lol. They mean in the social events...

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 49 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I was pretty shy when I started college and have always disliked social events. I skipped a few years in highschool so I was young when I started. Combined with working 30+ hours a week to pay for college and my social life was pretty dead.

My junior/senior year I decided to sit next to the most beautiful woman in class on day one. I would then smile, say hello, and leave them alone. Then smile, say goodbye at the end of class and leave.

A few weeks of this and most of them started talking to me a bit before or after class. By mid-terms I was friendly with a few beautiful women and had a couple dates. The last quarter of my senior year, I sat down next to my now wife.

I did get called out by my wife on knowing so many beautiful women when we were dating. She was a bit annoyed but I did sit down next to her after all.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] ruby@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

in my first three years of college i spoke to maybe ten students, pretty much all of them because we were assigned a team project together. only one guy talked to me because we were sitting next to each other at the same class and i started a few short-lived conversations with whoever was next to me before exams if the teacher was taking too long to come.

besides that, many people (almost everyone it seems) came into the college as friend groups from high school. they spoke to each other, but you're not within that friend group and it feels awkward to butt in a conversation where everyone's already highschool friends and you're a stranger.

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

Yep. Dorm life you’re stuck meeting people whether you like it or not. I hated our dorms, but I had a lot of fun with the roomies and others I met in the dorms.

[–] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

I didn't live on campus but I was in a fraternity, was in the tennis club and I worked as a guide for exchange students. There were plenty of opportunities to meet new people and date.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Alteon@lemmy.world 43 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Helps if you don't start the conversation with " Hello m'lady."

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 18 points 3 days ago

jaw drops to floor, eyes pop out of sockets accompanied by trumpets, heart beats out of chest, awooga awooga sound effect, pulls chain on train whistle that has appeared next to head as steam blows out, slams fists on table, rattling any plates, bowls or silverware, whistles loudly, fireworks shoot from top of head, pants loudly as tongue hangs out of mouth, wipes comically large bead of sweat from forehead, clears throat, straightens tie, combs hair Ahem, you look very lovely.

https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/hb4nmh/jaw_drops_to_floor_eyes_pop_out_of_sockets/

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] dullbananas@lemmy.ca 31 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Would this attract someone just like the anime stickers?

You need to wear the Fedora, not run it.

[–] sefra1@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 days ago

Eww, no, it's not Arch

[–] ruby@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 days ago

quite likely, but it's not as effective as arch

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 190 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (9 children)

I went on a date with a guy in college and he talked about how big various anime girls tits were the entire time. Insta-ghost. Idk if that was a fixable personality trait but it wasn't my responsibility anyway.

[–] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 53 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Not quite as bad, but I went on a date with someone that just explained video games I hadn't played. He would ask about a video game and if I hadn't played it he'd speak about it uninterrupted for 10-20 minutes explaining the levels. Not even interesting lore or anything. It would be like listening to someone explain a speedrun, but their speedrun is just playing the game normally. I like video games and play with my partners and friends, and I even watch videos about video games I haven't played and I could only stand 3 of these rounds before ending the date. He was completely uninterested in talking about anything else and didn't even want to talk about games I had actually played. Only games I knew nothing about. Totally bizarre. It felt like a prank. Would make a great greentext from his perspective though.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You literally describe my fear with my 10 y/o. He is a talker. He's pretty quick witted and can even make jokes that adults can appreciate. But hell if he can't just talk at you.

We are slowly engaging it. I hope he becomes an interesting, empathetic young adult who gives space and shows real interest in others. I'll do my best, but I didn't get better at this till my late twenties.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 69 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I wonder if he'll have a moment of clarity in a decade or so about how weird that was?

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 42 points 3 days ago

Nah, he'll blame it all on wokism.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FatTony@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I went on a date with a guy in college and he talked about how big various anime girls tits were the entire time.

Based.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Jerkface@lemmy.world 151 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I smiled at a girl in college once. A day later she infodumped everything she knew about Capgras syndrome on me out of the blue. 11/10 would recommend.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How do I know Anon is unattractive without knowing he is unattractive.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Live in the dorms and go to parties. The first week before classes start is magical for making friends.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

Ah yes, shroom week.

load more comments
view more: next ›