Man Challenges Himself to Find a Date Without Using the Internet

July 15, 2015

A short video by BAFTA-nominated writer and director Samuel Abrahams documenting his friend’s attempts at landing a date without the help of technology has gone viral.

In the video, titled “Offline Dating,” Abraham’s friend, Tom Greaves, wanders around Hackney, London approaching roughly 30 different women, who are sometimes in pairs or groups, and asks them things like:

“Would you like to go get a drink with me?”

“Are you single?”

“How would you feel if I were to ask you out on a date?”

Greaves’ encounters were highly unsuccessful — shocker. Out of the 30 women, only two accepted his invitation to grab a bite to eat, but most, however, were polite when they said no.

Greaves’ lack of success, however, may not simply mean that women are only willing to accept an invitation for a date digitally. Time Out London’s Kate Lloyd pointed out several possible reasons for why Greaves saw such a high rejection rate:

Trying to pick up a girl reading a book.
Asking a bunch of girls on dates with no relative concern for specifics or similar interests.
Approaching groups of girls and asking all of them on a date at once.
Lacking conversational creativity.
Overloading metaphysical information in the first five minutes.
Having a buddy film the conversation.

Many of these are rookie mistakes that have killed game in the past both digitally and in person. Despite the simple-minded mistakes Greaves makes in the film, Abrahams is aiming at a higher message: has digital dating completely taken over?

While technology has infused itself into just about every facet of human existence, it does not mean that asking a girl on a date in person is impossible — watch the video until the end for proof.
What do you make of Tom’s approach in the video?

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