There’s a thin line between cute and creepy. The new flirting website, likealittle.com, makes it way too easy to cross that line.
“At ASU BAC Building: Male, Brunette. You are sitting right next to me on the bench and I can’t stop sneaking glances at you. Your hair smells like coconut and I just want to run my fingers through it. I can’t wait to follow you when you leave,” reads a post on the website.
Stalker much?
Anonymous descriptions like this one, which don’t exactly tug at the romantic heartstrings, have flooded the ASU section of LikeALittle, founded by ASU student Elias Pickheart, since it launched over winter break.
According to an article about LikeALittle in last week’s State Press, CEO and co-founder Evan Reas developed the site to eliminate the fear of rejection when flirting and give students the opportunity to address those they want, but without having to do so face-to-face.
LikeALittle allows the idea of anonymous flirting to go too far. While the intentions of some users may be harmless, it seems some Sun Devils are taking it to a new level of weird. No matter where you are around campus, it’s eerie to know that someone may be observing you and posting their disturbing desires with you as their muse.
Suitemates Dominic Pacheco and Wesley Simms, both political science freshmen, scrolled down the ASU section with shocked expressions as they read recent posts. They learned about LikeALittle from The State Press and were instantly curious to see what it was all about.
“It’s kind of creepy, but I guess everyone has their own way of connecting to one another,” said Pacheco.
Simms agreed. “It just seems a little weird to me. It’s funny how all of a sudden people don’t want to go up to people and actually talk to them anymore. They want to go through the Internet, through [Facebook] chat or just texting. I’d rather have a one-on-one conversation with somebody. I’d rather have someone come up to me in the flesh,” he said.
Pacheco takes into account that some people may just be too shy, making the point of possibly coming off the wrong way if one were to tell someone certain intimate thoughts.
“They’d be like, ‘you’re a creep,’ but if they read it, it’s like Shakespeare — it warms their soul,” he laughed.
Pacheco also admitted to jokingly posting on the site for fun about a girl who sat next to him in class. He was “just messing around,” like other users appear to be doing when they post odd things for chuckles.
Approach LikeALittle with caution; it’s not an online dating site. While some posts are truly heartfelt, many are just plain weird. The site does allow users to remove anything alarming, but handfuls still find their way around it.
Many posts go unread by those they’re addressed to. If you really want to get someone’s attention, don’t hide behind the Internet, like Pacheco and Simms say, and take a chance to make a real connection in person.
Creep on Ashley at alhaines@asu.edu
