Our lives are increasingly ruled by the internet, wouldn’t you agree that a typical day would probably include catching up with your friends on MSN/Skype/Yahoo Messenger, clearing out emails on at least 2 email accounts, checking out comments on Facebook, having a quick browse of blogs, news, comics, videos on Youtube, downloading music, playing games etc? Add to that the recent spate of recession and rampant unemployment occurring around the world, it’s no wonder that people are staying home and spending more time on the internet than ever.
So, what better time than now to find love online?
There is some confusion as to what constitutes online dating so I’ve taken the definition from Wikipedia: Online dating or Internet dating is a dating system which allows individuals, couples and groups to make contact and communicate with each other over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a personal romantic or sexual relationship. Allow me to inject my interpretation of ‘dating’ as: the act of socializing with someone, often with romantic overtures.
In 2002, a Wired magazine article forecast that, “Twenty years from now, the idea that someone looking for love without looking for it online will be silly, akin to skipping the card catalog to instead wander the stacks because ‘the right books are found only by accident.’
Indeed, few things happen by accident, including finding that special someone to spend the rest of your life with. (Girls and boys, please stop daydreaming about bonding with a good-looking soul-mate while being trapped in a hijacked plane and surviving a near-death experience together. It’s not gonna happen.)
I advocate embracing the era of online dating and I think there are some significant advantages to it:
- Overnight, you will acquire the superhuman ability to date several people, within a short time. Juggling 10 boyfriends, in 5 time-zones and 3 continents have never been easier. Best thing is, they don’t even have to know about each other! Total freedom-no more coming up with stories about where you were and who you were with. Previously, you could be having dinner with James on Wednesday when Darren from Monday’s date called. You’ll have to hurriedly pick up the phone with a “Hey I’m sorry I’m having a meeting with my boss right now, call you back later.” Now you can chat with James online with the smug knowledge that Darren with the 16-hr difference time-zone has already fallen asleep and won’t be checking on you anytime soon.
- Chatting online is a great way to get to learn more about a person-without your lips, hands and genitals getting in the way. When the object of your desire is right in front of you, in close proximity, you get to smell, caress, kiss… and have sex. We all know once you bring sex is brought into the equation the whole relationship becomes based on nothing but lust and physical attraction. Not entirely conducive in getting to know someone right? Some might argue that online dating is phony, however, I find that online conversations allow people to open up in ways they might not otherwise do, in a face-to-face setting. Bounded by social conventions about acceptable behavior and opinions, few people would allow you to take a sneak peek under their usual façade.
- Dating someone online eliminates time and money-consuming behavior like shopping, dress-up, make-up, brainstorming acceptable topics for conversation, second-guessing whether he thinks you’re too materialistic with that Gucci bag etc. It’s also less stressful. Put on some comfortable clothing, switch on the computer, and you’re ready for some heavy-duty flirting! You could be digging your nose, scratching your armpits, and stewing in your own filth, smelling like you haven’t showered in 1.5 days (I’m just guessing you haven’t, because I haven’t) yet still make brainy conversation discussing the subtler points of Existentialism vs Objectivism.
- One massive benefit of internet dating is that it involves less real life repercussions if it doesn’t work out. If you don’t feel comfortable, just use this invincible tactic: right click, delete and block. No sweat! Normally, you would risk offending your family/friends/colleagues if they tried matchmaking you and it turned out to be a failure. Or you’d have to change your church/supermarket/club/bus-stop/workplace/wherever you may have met him so as to avoid him. With the internet, you can simply delete him out of your life and mind with three easy peasy steps. Now girls, repeat after me: Right click. Delete. Block. Well done.
- Another major advantage is increased safety, both physical and emotional. Still think it’s better to meet people in reality than in virtual space? Think again. Exchanging spit with a gorgeous stranger at a club exposes you to sex diseases you’d never heard about. One of my friends contracted oral herpes from kissing a guy at a bar and she deeply regrets it. Unfortunately, it’s incurable and will stick with her for life. Keep to virtual kissing, it’s so much more hygienic, really. And who hasn’t heard of date rape drugs? There is emotional safety because no one will ever need to bear witness to your humiliation, tears and heartbreak if you get rejected and besides, you’ve still have got 9 other boyfriends. You gain this ability to hide the embarrassment of rejection. Let’s say you confess your undying devotion to your online paramour and then he rejects you by saying that he just wants to be friends. Easy. You can claim “Erm, I think you must have misunderstood my meaning, when I said that I love you, it’s more like how God loves the world. Or the fuzzy way that one loves small furry animals. Yeah. Get over yourself, dude.”
With advantages such as more heartfelt interaction, cost-efficiency and less risk, I conclude that online dating is the way of the future. Go put up a profile on a few dating websites now! Or go update your existing profiles. Remember, like it or not, Facebook is a dating website too.
