I was on the phone with my mother the other day and she was asking me if my older sister, who is 25 years old, was dating anyone. I told her I did not think so which triggered my mother into a rant about how she should do online dating and how great it is, she even began to share with me all the “great stories” she had heard of people meeting online. I refrained from sharing this information with my sister because no one wants to be told that they should try online dating, it’s like people are saying you have failed real life dating and that you need a wall of technology in front of you to be able to meet someone nice. However, this did spur my interest a little and I decided to look up online dating to see what all the fuss was about.
Online dating simply involves signing up on a website which has been especially designed to allow singles to meet and mingle. After signing up, you simply build your profile, upload a photo and wait for someone to notice you and send you an email. Better yet, you simply search through the thousands or even millions of profile. You do not have to go through them one by one. Instead, narrow down your search to include your preferences, and then start communicating with someone you may potentially like. When you establish contact, it may just be the start of a good romantic relationship.
Love at first chat?
Although I do see some appeal to online dating, I am not quite sold on the idea of finding someone randomly over the internet with the possibility that they might not be who they say they are. Anonymity online makes it easier to lie without consequences. For all anyone knows, that really cute young guy you met online who says he enjoys physical activity and the outdoors, really might be an older, unemployed male who has never worked out in his life. I just feel that there is too much room for things to go wrong in online dating. In real life dating you might not see a person’s complete personality right away but atleast you know who and what you are working with; whereas, online you are working with a screen and a blurb about one’s interests and hobbies.
However, to my discovery, online dating has become a very popular trend today. With over ’30 to 40 million people logging on each month, online dating has evolved from a progressive pastime to a mainstream phenomenon in the past couple of years’ [1]. Perhaps online dating is simply another method of meeting people, and it has advantages and disadvantages.
After searching various sites I found that many sites are focused on very specific groups or interests. There are sites for seniors, sites for Muslims, sites for fitness-oriented people, sites for people just looking for friends and sites for people who are interested in more adult activities. Perhaps I was too quick to judge online dating, maybe it is better than real life dating? I mean there are a lot of obstacles that keep someone from meeting the love of his or her life in today’s world. Maybe dating co-workers is against company policy. Perhaps you hate the bar scene. You might not be in the right mood to meet your soul mate while you’re trekking through the grocery store. Online dating provides the opportunities to find someone who is interested in the same things you are.
Not only are we able to pay bills online, shop online, download music and videos online, but now we are able to find love online. New media has created a sphere where people feel more comfortable communicating with others in order to find love.
Sources:
[1] Are online dating sites helping cupid close more deals? (2005). Retrieved on March 25, from http://www.howstuffworks.com/online-dating-pr.htm
