Why Were People So Obsessed with Youngsoo of the 28th Season?
The Emotional Waves Caused by Ambiguity
Hey diptok Fam! It's Ah-Young here! 👋
Lately, whenever I check the community forums, I keep seeing discussions about Youngsoo (영수) from the 28th season (of I Am Solo). Even people who don't usually watch the dating show will hear the name "Youngsoo" and immediately think, "Ah, that person who caused all the buzz?" 😉 I started thinking that this issue isn't just limited to a dating reality show; it's similar to situations we commonly encounter in daily conversations or online exchanges. Specifically, the emotions we experience in chats with strangers and the ambiguity Youngsoo displayed among the women seem subtly related.
If you want to understand Youngsoo’s emotional impact more deeply, it helps to look at two themes: “ambiguous relationships” and “the psychology of anonymous conversations.”
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Ambiguity Can Both Attract People and Drive Them Crazy
The biggest trait Youngsoo showed on the program was, clearly, ambiguity. He maintained an ambiguous tension right up until 6 PM the day before the final decision, even right after going on a super date.
He acted like he was interested but wasn't, drawing a line but not really. His words were cautious, his actions sometimes jumped ahead, and his decisions were slow... Doesn't that sound exactly like that feeling you often get in anonymous chat: "What on earth is this person thinking?"
People were busy interpreting every single one of Youngsoo's expressions, sentences, and date choices. That's not because Youngsoo is special, but because we have a human instinct to react more strongly and interpret more obsessively when there are fewer clues.
This frequently happens in places like Naver random chat or open chat. Since you don't know each other well, the slightest nuance can cause emotions to move dramatically.
The Ambiguous Person Ultimately Becomes an Object of Projection
Youngsoo's ambiguity suddenly became a mirror for the viewers. While criticizing him, people simultaneously started sharing their own experiences: "I've dated that type," "There are many people who text regularly but never commit," "Someone who only shows 70% of their emotions..."
This is exactly the emotional projection that often occurs in random chatting or anonymous friend finding. Since we lack information, we overlay our past experiences and memories onto the other person's tone or one or two sentences.
In that sense, I believe Youngsoo from the 28th season became a representative figure of the relationship emotional patterns that all of us have experienced at least once.
Diptok is a Space Where These Emotions are Revealed Much More Clearly
Shall we talk about Diptok for a moment? Diptok is fundamentally photo-less anonymous chat, so there is no face or spec. Things you can boast about are blocked early on. What remains is only the texture of the words, the pace, and the sincere attitude displayed in the conversation.
Things like slow replies, a sudden change in the end of a sentence, or a different sending time transmit very powerful signals to the other person in this kind of anonymous chat. Because we chat without knowing the face, all emotions and misunderstandings arise from the text, creating an environment where our feelings are swayed by changes much smaller than usual. Maybe? This is what makes Diptok charming.
The Human Psychology of Craving Clarity Yet Being Drawn to Ambiguity
As seen in the Youngsoo case, people crave a clear relationship, yet they are inexplicably drawn to ambiguous people. You saw Youngsoo continuously going on multi-person dates until the midpoint, right? That’s because uncertainty allows imagination to intervene, and imagination sometimes creates something much bigger than the reality right in front of you.
The strange excitement that arises in random chat, 1:1 chat, and open chat mostly stems from this imagination. Since you don't know who you are talking to, emotions grow quickly, and the area for imagining and interpreting alone is large, leading to greater emotional expenditure. That's why we are drawn to people like Youngsoo but also get exhausted, and then return to reflect on ourselves, repeating this cycle of emotional change.
Diptok is the Most Pure Laboratory for Interpreting Relationships
Diptok is a unique space. It's anonymous chat, yet simultaneously, deeply emotional and detailed 1:1 conversations take place. Here, a relationship can advance or stop based on a single small phrase. And you can continue talking by creating a separate chat room with someone you genuinely connect with!
In Diptok, we can hone our ability to read the emotional temperature of the other person, discover what kind of sentence patterns we use, and figure out what kind of relationship we genuinely desire.
Diptok is primarily free chat, but it's different from the common random chat sites overflowing on Google. Ultimately, it’s a place that shows most purely how human emotions flow based on text. That's why figures like Youngsoo can sometimes seem larger than life, and the stability of a clear person can feel magnified.
What Temperature Are You Giving Off Right Now?
The issue with Youngsoo of the 28th season is not so much one person's problem, but an incident that directly mirrors the emotional waves we experience daily in anonymous chat, random matching, and 1:1 random chats. Ambiguity, expectation, interpretation, tension, excitement, imagination, exhaustion... It is only natural to waver within that cycle.
Today, were you someone like Youngsoo to another person? Or did you encounter someone like Youngsoo? Or perhaps neither, and it was just a day when you wanted to better understand your own emotional temperature. It’s okay to slowly share that story here. Diptok is a place where those kinds of stories are safe to flow.
I'll be back with another 100% relatable story next time! Thanks a bunch for reading all the way through, everyone! 🙏
Hope Ah-Young's story brought you a little comfort tonight. If you ever need a chill spot to chat about these things in the late-night hours, why not give diptok a try and start your own honest conversation? 💜