So, I had an encounter that was a first of its kind in many ways. Starting off with the latest trends, she had COVID some time back and recovered well. The wordplay game over texting was so enticing that we ended up meeting in just a few hours. The chemistry felt real, but I also sensed surprising familiarity the moment I sat in her car. It was a feeling that I had known her for years. Our bodies felt like long-lost magnets, and they just couldn’t get enough of each other.
The MBA microeconomics course teaches the ‘Bandwagon Effect’: ideas spread faster as more people adopt them. As more people come to believe in something, others also “hop on the bandwagon” regardless of the underlying evidence.
The image to the left is one example of an advertisement using the bandwagon effect. To get people’s attention, Nike says that “everyone” is buying their products. This ad uses availability heuristics, showing that people judge based on what’s top of mind. Nike suggests everyone uses their products, influencing consumers to buy if they want to fit in.
Social and psychological factors drive investors to buy, pushing asset prices up through bandwagon effects. This effect caused the dot-com bubble, the 2008 housing crash, and others.
You can use the bandwagon effect to draw crucial insights in modern-day dating. Peer pressure pushed many to quickly adopt dating apps despite doubts, and addictive dopamine bursts kept them hooked. We call this group-alignment behavior herd mentality.
Also, you might be a great person: honest, funny, humble. kind et al, but in most cases, your elevator pitch won’t be made by you. It will be made by your social image; the mutual friends, colleagues, and most importantly, your social media profile. Social proof drives it, creating a halo effect that shapes your later interactions.
Social media lets you smartly portray yourself however you want by filtering out unwanted aspects. If used sharply, it acts as a great tool for pull marketing and helps in bringing down the lead time considerably. You need to appear as a fun, social person whom others enjoy being around. Especially if you are a guy, being seen with other girls helps in portraying a stronger BATNA. But don’t overdo it, otherwise, it might backfire.
I try to portray myself as an exuberant, nonchalant, iconoclastic guy to disassociate myself from the typical Indian image of the IIT IIM pedigree. That combined with a brief skimming of this site, makes me one of the worst bets for something substantial. I mean over a decade of dating with nothing lasting for longer than a few days indicates the obvious (words<actions<patterns). If she still decides to invest time in me, it’s on her.
That brings me to the first COVID recovered date. So, is this it? Had I been missing this familiarity? Has my body finally found its magnet? Is this the first that’ll last?
Well, she works in London with a globally leading bank and is an NRI. She was back in India to visit her family post her COVID recovery. She left back for London and I am not a subscriber of the long-distance relationship philosophy. Coming back to the first though, I hadn’t made out in the car in broad daylight or torn off the bedsheet due to the sheer rigor.
Later, Sidhant
