A young man has turned to social media for friends after moving from Melbourne to Sydney six months ago and reaching \u201cbreaking point\u201d over the realisation he did not have anyone to hang out with.<\/p>\n
The TikTok, captioned \u201cWho in Sydney wants to be friends?\u201d, has since garnered almost 60,000 views and hundreds of comments inviting him to social events in Sydney. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I was at breaking point,\u201d Harald Hugo told news.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was like: I am desperate for some friends and some interaction\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Coogee local had just returned from a social-packed Thailand trip and realised he was coming home to an empty social life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt like: oh my god, I\u2019m back here now and yes, it\u2019s nice to be back in Sydney, but I just need that kind of interaction again and I was realising I don\u2019t have that source of friendship,\u201d the 28-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thrive on social interaction, I recharge by being around people and talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK-born model and TV producer who moved to Australia two years ago said he saw another TikToker make a similar plea and felt inspired to do the same thing in order to book out his social calendar. <\/p>\n
\u201cI found it so much easier to make friends there (Melbourne) than I have here,\u201d Mr Hugo said in a deflated tone in his post on Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean I know a few people but either, I have friends that are in relationships, so they don\u2019t really do anything, or I don\u2019t know \u2026 they don\u2019t reply to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if anyone wants to be friends and hang out in Sydney, please let me know.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Hugo admitted that it \u201cdoes not help\u201d that he works remotely, and will be alone most of the time, but rattled off a list of activities he is willing to do. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut, look, if anyone wants to go for a drink \u2013 I love a beer, swim, beach, go to the pool. I love it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be friends with you guys! Who wants to hang out?\u201d<\/p>\n
His plea was answered, with a fellow Coogee local inviting him on a coffee catch-up the very next morning. Others invited him for a swim at the South Coogee Mahon pool, asked to meet at the pub for a beer, and one person even asked for a Yo-Chi catch-up. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked,\u201d Mr Hugo told news.com.au, and he now has made genuine plans with people off the back of the viral video.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to a pub trivia next week in Bronte with these lovely girls, I\u2019ve been invited to a house warming party, and I\u2019m going to a language exchange social next week which is so up my street.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenging social landscape<\/p>\n
Associate Professor Michelle Lim and CEO of Ending Loneliness Together said Mr Hugo\u2019s story of struggling to find friends is something that she hears \u201cday to day\u201d. <\/p>\n
When asked if it had to do something with Sydney as a city, she promptly disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about Sydney,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not one thing, it\u2019s many. It\u2019s not just digital connection being favoured over in person, but the lack of funding to community spaces, the high quality green spaces. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s being financially strained. It\u2019s battling health conditions, both chronic disease, mental health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a variety of different things \u2026 making this world an incredibly difficult social landscape to not just make but to maintain high quality friendships\u201d. <\/p>\n
Ms Lim said young people should push themselves \u201cto have friends of different people of different ages\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have all your friends scattered everywhere, some are overseas, so, how do you maintain those ones?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need to be a little bit more diverse in our friendship groups. If we have a few friends and say they are going through something or they\u2019re in a relationship or they\u2019re travelling, then you\u2019ll be at risk of feeling like you don\u2019t have connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s about building complexity into our networks, building different kinds of relationships.\u201d <\/p>\n
Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a>Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young man has turned to social media for friends after moving from Melbourne to Sydney six months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[149594,149610,57971,149619,93541,97671,46473,149598,149622,65750,149590,99209,52505,149626,149620,40364,38132,149615,51689,149591,149613,137373,77820,56702,149612,43673,11270,149614,122212,149593,149632,149627,23,1576,9800,149587,149618,21501,41559,3490,69226,32263,51359,56703,149629,50275,128226,36085,1819,19381,149616,149630,149631,149592,149623,149606,149607,149603,46269,149633,149599,149609,260,54520,149634,149628,43143,149625,37007,38457,43754,38152,149601,149597,7350,38257,4871,149604,9184,40829,45069,80467,149624,106,87814,149589,53755,247,149602,98378,149605,39946,42022,149621,149595,41212,37046,49618,94384,58812,149596,149611,36556,149600,149588,81663,149617,38536,149608,7444,38329,10234,44278,4382],"class_list":["post-88195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-the-coogee-local","tag-s-desperate-plea","tag-s-story","tag-s-tiktok-plea","tag-000-views","tag-a-beer","tag-a-city","tag-a-coffee-catch-up","tag-a-deflated-tone","tag-a-drink","tag-a-fellow-coogee-local","tag-a-few-friends","tag-a-few-people","tag-a-house-warming-party","tag-a-language-exchange-social","tag-a-list","tag-a-little-bit","tag-a-pub-trivia","tag-a-relationship","tag-a-similar-plea","tag-a-social-packed-thailand-trip","tag-a-swim","tag-a-sydney-man","tag-a-variety","tag-a-yo-chi-catch-up","tag-a-young-man","tag-activities","tag-all-your-friends","tag-almost-60","tag-an-empty-social-life","tag-an-incredibly-difficult-social-landscape","tag-another-tiktoker","tag-australia","tag-beach","tag-book","tag-both-chronic-disease","tag-breaking-point","tag-bronte","tag-comments","tag-community-spaces","tag-complexity","tag-connection","tag-day","tag-different-ages","tag-different-kinds","tag-different-people","tag-different-things","tag-ending-loneliness-together","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-genuine-offers","tag-genuine-plans","tag-harald-hugo","tag-health-conditions","tag-high-quality-friendships","tag-his-plea","tag-his-post","tag-his-social-calendar","tag-hundreds","tag-interaction","tag-just-digital-connection","tag-lonely-man","tag-melbourne","tag-mental-health-issues","tag-mr-hugo","tag-ms-lim","tag-my-god","tag-my-street","tag-news-com-au","tag-next-week","tag-one-person","tag-one-thing","tag-our-friendship-groups","tag-our-networks","tag-people","tag-person","tag-point","tag-professor-michelle-lim-and-ceo","tag-relationships","tag-risk","tag-six-months","tag-social-events","tag-social-interaction","tag-social-media","tag-some-friends","tag-some-interaction","tag-strangers","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-man","tag-that-kind","tag-that-source","tag-the-28-year-old","tag-the-back","tag-the-challenging-social-landscapeassociate","tag-the-high-quality-green-spaces","tag-the-lack","tag-the-pool","tag-the-pub","tag-the-realisation","tag-the-same-thing","tag-the-south-coogee-mahon-pool","tag-the-tiktok","tag-the-time","tag-the-uk-born-model-and-tv-producer","tag-the-very-next-morning","tag-the-viral-video","tag-these-lovely-girls","tag-this-world","tag-those-ones","tag-thursday","tag-two-years","tag-viral","tag-you-guys","tag-young-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}