friendsforeverfirst?

Hmm... I just realized I don't fw connections that automatically go straight to romance or trying to date right away or whatever else. (Sex, being a very physical, instinctual act, is another story - though it's still quite important to me with whom I share that energy with) I guess that's why I don't really like dating apps... personally for me I have to actually get to know someone before even considering them in that way.. i just don't get how that would even work tbh.  I understand not everything is linear and there can certainly be different aspects to connections—like there's a platonic level, sexual chemistry, and the deeper, romantic idea we associate with love, for example.  For me the platonic level is most important to develop and it cannot go very far at all if I don't first know you on that level.. I think a lover should first and foremost be a friend - isn't that what we really want and need at the end of the day?  Not that the other two can't be obvious in the beginning - some people effortlessly stir something within you; Love is never constrained to time or form, of course.  However, that just feels quite rushed to me, I can't otherwise explain it.  Of course, this is my own opinion and I hold no judgements against anyone that chooses to engage that way.  I'm simply reflecting..