SophieJ Life Experiences

The internet is not a real place. Remember that.

And yet, it never fails to deliver.

In my pursuit of staying informed and keeping up with the latest drama, I’ve noticed something: the girls seem to need crushes. Reporting live from my For You Page (FYP), I can tell you that viable crushes are in short supply, and the girls are not okay with it.

This revelation sent me down a brief rabbit hole of self-reflection because, honestly, I haven’t had a crush in ages. Granted, I work in an isolated environment, go to a very small gym, and only venture out occasionally when the stars align.

Still, not one crush in forever, what’s up with that? Is that what a fully developed frontal lobe does to you, or is it just acquired taste and self-awareness finally doing their job?

The girls have also had enough of relationship advice. They want ways to make $30 million a month and achieve financial freedom. Nobody cares about securing a man anymore. With everything at an all-time high and a collective decision to decenter men well underway, the relationship gurus are working overtime. Good luck to them!

On Parasocial Behavior. Let’s Talk.

The internet is not a real place, and I really wish people would dial back the parasocial behavior sometimes. That said, I also recognize that many creators have deliberately built their platforms around fostering exactly that sort of behavior. The push and pull of “Yes, watch me; here is my dirty laundry, my good times, and every corner of my life,” followed by“Please respect my privacy and do not ask questions,” can be genuinely confusing.

The line between sharing and protecting your space is razor-thin, and honestly, I don’t think we’ve collectively figured out where that line actually is yet. No matter how much someone puts out there, it’s important to remember: you are only ever seeing a curated version of their life. There is always something being managed behind the scenes. Reality TV has done a particularly poor job of making that distinction clear. Just saying.

Reality TV may have been our first collective lesson in parasocial relationships before social media made them available 24 hours a day.

Speaking of Reality TV…

Apparently, *Love & Hip Hop* is coming to an end, and I was genuinely surprised by how nostalgic that made me feel. I haven’t tuned in for a very long time, but I still have vivid memories of binge-watching romantic triangles across countless cities and storylines. It was truly a memorable era.

Between the *Real Housewives* franchises, *Basketball Wives*, *Braxton Family Values*, and everything in between, reality TV was a significant part of my life.

Then one day, a few years back, I just stopped.

Everything.

Cold turkey. 

What happened exactly?

Did I grow up?

Did life get too real?

Was it overstimulation, or did the repetitive storylines finally do it?

It’s probably an honest mix of all of the above. Either way, I am grateful for that chapter.

World Cup, Crowds, and Maybe a Crush?

On a completely different note, the tri-state area is about to become very crowded, very quickly. The World Cup is just days away, and officials in the Garden State are already warning residents about traffic and encouraging everyone to plan ahead.

So I might end up staying inside even more than usual.

Or… I could step outside and take in the wave of Europeans, South Americans, Africans, and visitors from all over the world who are about to flood the area. Who knows? Maybe a crush will manifest. Stranger things have happened.

On that note, the best and truly only way to maintain a crush is to never actually interact with them. Keep every fantasy safely in your head, because the moment they open their mouth, the entire fantasy can collapse in real time.

Before You Go

If you haven’t visited the blog homepage recently, please do.

I’ve added a couple of new pages by popular demand over the past year, and I would love to hear your thoughts. I genuinely enjoy letting you into my world, friends. Just remember, even then, what you are getting is still very much curated.