Of course people think they have meaning. They are felt so powerfully and can seem so real. And we like to believe our minds can influence reality to bring us the things we want.
But they get so confusing with all kinds of weird images that we don’t know how to make sense out of. And they seem to offer us the possibility of our waking dreams, especially when they are about crushes.
And, of course, they do have meaning. Meaning-making is what humans do, and we can do it with any input at all. We get meaning from rocks and the air. Why shouldn’t a dream be very meaningful? It speaks a lot better than a rock does. In human language, anyway.
Perhaps you are complaining that people make more of their dreams than you make of yours? You say you think they are making too much by expecting realistic outcomes as a consequence of what they dream.
I don’t know. Who am I to say what will happen or won’t. The power of positive thinking and self-fulfilling prophecies are well-known.
I think that when people ask these questions, they want reassurance. They really want their dreams to come true, but they know this is unlikely. So they ask a question, hoping someone will make them feel better. “Oh, you saw yourself kissing the boy? Then, by all means, talk to him about it.” Or some such. What they usually find is what they suspected—the dream is about them, not anyone else. But who can blame them for hoping?