Please stop stalking other students and then posting on Missed Connections

Every time a Carnegie Mellon missed connection is posted, I can’t help but think about how many stalkers we have on campus. In case you didn’t know, Carnegie Mellon does actually have a stalking problem. In 2019, there were 24 total cases of stalking, 10 in 2020, and 13 in 2021. Yikes! When Missed Connections first became a thing, I thought it was cute, but the more I thought about it, I realized it’s kind of problematic.

At the very least, I feel like Missed Connections promotes an anti-social atmosphere. Instead of actually approaching these people, are people actually thinking, “Oh man, they’re so cool, I should make a Missed Connections post about them”? Like how many people actually end up meeting the people they post about?

Here’s some of my criticisms of some recent Missed Connections.

“Submitted 1/28/23, 8:54 PM
1/28 8pm ish. To the girl that had an interesting interaction w a homeless man before taking the 71C w my friends and I. If you’re single hmu”

I’m not too sure how to start with this one. If you saw this person having an “interesting interaction w a homeless man” and want to maybe connect with her, then why not ask them if they’re okay, etc. Or did I miss something, and it’s more socially acceptable to instead post about them not even an hour later to see if they’re single?

“Submitted 2/3/23, 11:37 AM
To my 104 TA ..., I lowkey had a crush on you but didn’t want to make things weird. Hit me up if you are interested”

How on earth is this TA supposed to hit you up if you didn’t say who you are, coward. Let the entire campus know who you were and how you had an awkward crush on a TA. The post additionally named the TA, which I think is a little weird. I would find it weird if I was a TA for a class and later found out someone had a crush on me, especially if it wasn’t reciprocated. But hey, love works in mysterious ways, so who am I to judge?

“Submitted 2/2/23, 9:08 PM
to the guy I am best friends with, i have feelings for you, but i dont match ur type, so it is what it is”

To whoever this is, if you’re not going to directly tell your best friends you have feelings for them, it’s never going to work out in the first place. Either tell them you have a crush on them or get over it, there’s really no other way. Posting on Missed Connections instead does nothing for you.

“Submitted 2/3/23, 5:30 PM
to the cute indian girl who sat next to me at the counter in prima earlier this week i wanted to say hi”

My brother in Christ, just say “Hi” instead of letting her live rent-free in your head for the rest of the week. Additionally, someone was tagged in the comments referring to this post, which I have a problem with. Send the person the post instead of tagging them; if they wanted the person who posted about them to know their name, then the one who was posted about should respond.

Maybe I’m just some guy who’s just hampering other people’s fun, but the amount of detail that some of the people on this campus describe other people with is a little disturbing. But please, for the love of God, can’t we just talk to each other normally?