A young Aussie fed up with social media has plastered a poster of himself across Sydney in the hopes of making ‘real life friends’.
The poster was spotted taped to walls around Sydney, including Town Hall, Chinatown and Redfern, and was the brainchild of 18-year-old Cooper.
Cooper told Daily Mail he was struck with the idea earlier this month while scrolling through his social media accounts at 1.30am.
‘I was just up, and I was scrolling on my phone. I was like, “Man, this is so boring. I wish I was doing something else”,’ Cooper said.
‘So I decided to make that poster. I told myself if I still think it is a good idea in the morning then I’ll post it.’
Cooper, 18, created a poster (pictured) to ‘make real life friends’ and plastered 35 copies across walls around Town Hall, Chinatown and Sydney’s inner city suburb of Redfern
The full-time student printed 35 copies of the poster he described as ‘some graphic designer’s worst nightmare’.
He titled the creation ‘I’m tired of online friends let’s be friends in real life’ and called on Aussies aged between 17 and 24 years old who were not ‘bigots’ to reach out.
‘In the rise of social media, I say f**k it! If you want to be friends (or enemies) CALL ME TODAY!!!,’ he wrote.
Cooper said he received an overwhelming response to his poster, with more than 50 different people calling or texting him.
He explained that of the 55 responses, some offered encouraging comments, and a small number were trolls, but a ‘vast majority’ were people genuinely looking to make friends.
‘Now I’ve got plans from this week until next week for outings, places to go, and people to see, and that’s nice,’ Cooper said.
Cooper believes the best way to connect with others is through comedy. He wrote down ‘little funny things’ on the poster so that people would laugh and be more inclined to text him.
‘I think someone that’s genuinely funny and can genuinely make people smile is a real treasure to social circles and humanity,’ Cooper said.
‘So, the entire idea [of the poster] was to make it so s****y and so out there that it revolves around to being good again.’
The full-time student said he had over 50 responses to his poster, with a ‘vast majority’ being genuine people looking for a friend (Pictured, Cooper on the left meeting with a person who responded to his poster)
In the poster, Cooper included a picture of himself, and listed his interests as well as qualities he brings to a friendship.
He described himself as the ‘go-to guy’ for complaining, a great movie watcher, a talker and a listener, someone who would text random thoughts at 12am and a person who would invite himself over to your house to cook eggs.
He added: ‘I’m very charming and funny actually’.
The Gen Z-er, who is studying psychology and counselling at the n College of Applied Professions, said he used the poster to highlight how young Aussies are stuck socialising through social media.
‘I feel like the younger generation has too much reliance on social media,’ Cooper said.
‘In this day and age, the rate of depression or loneliness is going up. We feel so isolated by our devices because we’re more connected than ever, but in a way that’s socially isolating.
‘People don’t put themselves out there. They don’t make the effort to talk to people. I’m pretty sure the right people will look and they’ll see the poster and hit me up.’
Cooper (pictured) said he was motivated to create the poster as young Aussies are too reliant on social media to create friends and socialise
He urged young Aussies to let go of their phones and encouraged them not to be afraid to put themselves out there.
‘You only live once and you have to make sure that you know, this is the prime of your life,’ Cooper said.
‘You’re not living it by being on your phone. You got to go out there and make the life experiences yourself.’
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