What and how do I do a virtual meeting
Zoom meeting is a good way. That way you don't have to share your number
It's essentially a video chat!!!! You can talk and get to know potential cuddle prospects.
I find a séance works well.
The word "virtual" needs to be dropped from our vocabulary unless you're talking about Virtual Reality which is cool. I don't remember it ever being used to refer to video chat until COVID was a thing.
If you want to look into Cuddlist or Cuddle Sanctuary there is training to do just that! The connection is more than just video chatting, there is psychology behind it. Try searching butterfly hugs on YouTube
I use Skype to chat virtually (:
@Vero4846 there are [at least] three different types on online meeting in cuddling.
Introductory/screening chat Companionship 'Virtual cuddle'
There us a sticky topic on the Professional board which will point you in the right direction.
@Mike403 is correct, we need to remove the word 'virtual' from this context, it is misleading. And its going to become even more misleading in the future.
I have not heard of anybody doing Virtual meetings yet, i.e. both using virtual reality, but it can't be long now.
I actually have used and still currently successfully use virtual cuddling. The reason I still use the word cuddling is in my opinion and personally, I kinda believe that the word cuddling is just a word to define a feeling one gets such as like the word love that you can't quite define simply.
Personally, I don't do "virtual" sessions. If I only wanted to talk to somebody, I'd call my therapist.
@NikiJay25 I quite agree. Cuddling is fundamentally an emotional activity, not a physical one. Sure, the physical part is very important, but you can indeed replicate much of the feeling with an online cuddle.
The other problem with the word "virtual" in this context is that the we use it because you are seeing an image of the other person, not the actual person. But the image you see is not a virtual image, it is a real image.
(A virtual image is the kind of image you get in a mirror. A real image is an image that can be projected onto a screen.)
@Mike403 💯 I have so many people I could talk to on a day-to-day basis. Since when did conversation become a commodity?
Be cautious of being unintentionally hurtful to people who do find value in virtual sessions. Even if you don't find value in it doesn't mean there can't be. 💜
@ubergigglefritz - It's just my opinion. Just like I think that golf is the most dull and boring recreational activity. It doesn't mean I can't support those who do enjoy it.
@Mike403 just a general comment, not necessarily to anyone in particular. 💜😊 Thanks for clarifying!
@mike403 Yup I knew it was your opinion. Mine too.
@CuddleDuncan "Cuddling is fundamentally an emotional activity, not a physical one. Sure, the physical part is very important, but you can indeed replicate much of the feeling with an online cuddle."
I disagree. The definition of cuddling is "hold close in one's arms as a way of showing love or affection." It is 100% a physical activity. I dislike the term "virtual cuddling," as it's really only a conversation.
@BlueIris The visual perspective of cuddling is physical, but looking beyond the visual, the very core of cuddling is actually emotional. For many many people. It's about connection. The physical touch only facilitates and intensifies that ability to connect. If all we needed was oxytocin, then I'm sure doctors could come up with a pill for it, which would accomplish all we need. 🤷♀️
@BlueIris if you think "virtual cuddling" is really only a conversation you are simply wrong. I must say I am utterly sick of people propagating this falsehood. You are confusing "I haven't done it" with "it doesn't exist". If you want to discover the kind of things people actually do during a virtual cuddle, start with this thread:
Conversation is a more significant part of it than in physical cuddling, but as in physical cuddling the conversation is just a framework.
I do agree with you about the term 'virtual cuddling', I don't like it either. At the very least it should be 'online cuddling' or 'remote cuddling' or 'telecuddling'.
And I do take your point about cuddling being a physical activity, not least because I used to think that too. After a year or so in the cuddle community I began to realise that that wasn't quite right. It definitely isn't 100% physical, there is no doubt it is part physical and part emotional. The question is, which part is right at the heart of it? In percentage terms is it 49-51 or 51-49
(Edit: @ubergigglefritz is spot on.)
Consider the following thought experiment. Imagine two identical rooms, set up for cuddling just the way you like it. You are going to go into one of these rooms for a four hour 'cuddle' session. This is good news because you are haven't had a cuddle for a while, you've had some bad news recently, and you are desperate for a cuddle. You have a free choice of room, but once you choose you are committed to being 100% present - physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally - for the whole session. The object of the session is to make you feel cuddled because that is the only thing you care about right now.
In each room, waiting for you, is a different cuddle partner. They will participate fully in the session but they will not break the rules given below.
In one room is your partner, close friend, favourite cuddle buddy/professional or some other person you love to cuddle with. The twist is, you are not allowed to touch each other. You can do anything else you like, but you may not touch.
In the other room is the person you would least like to cuddle. This includes figures from fiction and history. They have been hypnotised, bribed and blackmailed and they hate you with a howling passion. However, they will insist on a fully physical cuddle session - spooning both ways, face to face, the works. Under the rules of the experiment you are obliged to do it.
Which room do you choose?
I totally agree with @BlueIris There seems to be more and more liberties raken with the definition of a word these days.
That would be taken.
@CuddleDuncan 100% absolutely every day of the week, I choose the touchless friend room. Does this make me a better or worse cuddle professional? I think better. 😆 Like you mentioned / implied, people generally THINK all they want is the touch, but most of my experience indicates that eventually, whether sooner or longer, we discover that underlying need of just basic connection lies at the core. 💜 It's about feeling safe, compassion, accepted, cared for, but touch is a way of expressing and showing that even deeper than words can do. On the other hand, touch without those things will often fall flat of meeting that need we feel. 🤗
@CuddleDuncan I would like to see some men respond to your hypothetical. I would take option one, but I'm not so touch deprived either.
@CuddleDuncan Maybe we could do a remote cuddle, sometime. I've had two "virtual cuddles" offered to me; one started with an hour of regular conversation, and the other was 100% conversation. Given this, I still feel like I don't know what virtual cuddles are "all about". (And I have read the linked thread.) Would love to experience more.
~ Sunset Snuggles
I would choose the touchless friend room. If you are trying to compare this option to a telephone or "virtual cuddle" I don't see it. The physical presence of a person you love to cuddle with is a warm and fuzzy even if you are not touching IMO.
@Btown exactly! The online presence isn't as good as a real one, obviously. But the point of a telecuddle is that it seeks to replicate that warm and fuzzy feeling. If you just sit there and chat, then you're unlikely to get that feeling. But if you use the video link to create a feeling of closeness, using the kinds of techniques mentioned in the various threads, then you can get a passable version of it.
I would choose the touchless friend room. I think most people would. But if cuddling really was essentially physical, then there is nothing to think about - you'd choose the room where you would actually get a cuddle.
@SunsetSnuggles hmmmm ...... you've given me an idea ....
@CuddleDuncan Agreed
@CuddleDuncan Mr. Mysterious. 😁
@CuddleDuncan I also would choose the “touchless friend” room but that thought experiment feels “rigged” by the other option being someone who hates me and is being coerced into cuddling (a clear violation of consent even in a thought experiment).
I think your experiment should include a 3rd room with an “unknown cuddler”. Someone who has 2 or 3 positive karma and is described as a warm, attentive, and caring person but they are someone you have never met and they would be available for physical, platonic cuddling. How many would choose the touchless friend room vs touch from a caring stranger?
@JohnR1972 extremes were used to exemplify the point that it's not primarily about touch, but connection. In order to do that, you have to have the choices be zero emotional connection and all touch OR high emotional connection and no touch.
Wish perhaps we can get oculus glasses for the metaverse and be able to actually cuddle virtually as opposed to just a conversational interaction via zoom