Some standard advice that is out there is that some topics are not suitable for first dates. While this can be true in some cases, such as having a lot of conversation about your latest ex, there are many cases that it is just overhyped advice that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Holding back information and personality attributes can make it more challenging to meet the right person in the long run. By censoring your personality and your conversation, you are presenting a person that isn’t quite you. Phone dating is a fantastic way to sift through people that are not compatible matches. If you are a different person on the first number of phone dates, you will eventually move back the person you are, later on, and you will have spent a lot of time matching up with someone that may not match up with you.
Additionally, people tend to be more comfortable sharing information about themselves and opening up when there is a little bit of vulnerability involved. Sometimes, even things like talking about your exes (a little), personal trauma in your life that has impacted you, and even habits like binge-watching ridiculously bad movies on Netflix, can help you connect with people. Sharing intimate details about your life to another person is one way to become much closer to that person. This is even easier to do on phone dating hotlines because there is a certain amount of anonymity.
Anonymity helps make phone dating hotlines a fantastic place to practice opening up. While you do it, make sure the conversation is not one-sided. Give enough time for people to respond, and let them share information about their lives as well.
There is research that backs the claim that people who are more open to being vulnerable are more likely to have successful and close intimate relationships. In a lot of ways, it is true that the more you share yourself with someone else, the more likely they are to share themselves with you.