I want to know why Online Dating has become the norm in the singles market today. Is it so hard to pick up the phone and call someone you met at the gym? Picking up men or women is by virtue of several screening quizzes that do not take into account feelings people associate with attraction in person. Yahoo!, eHarmony, Matchmaker are all ways we avoid personal contact in favor of virtual contact.
Indeed, and interesting shift has occurred. Where we once came to trust our gut, we now trust the Internet. You hear me right: trust the Internet. Several years ago we were all afraid of the unknown space that comprised the Internet. Any user could pose as whomever they wanted. The anonymity scared us. Now we crave it. A large number or people rely on the security it provides.
Someone may take comfort in the fact that you can pre-screen all potential candidates to see if they smoke, drink, what car they drive, and what religion they associate themselves with. Because it is "anonymous," it is easier for people to be upfront about their shortcomings and admit them, resulting in a more direct mutual pairing, instead of trying to impress you because they fear not being liked for whatever reason. No matter what your tastes, the hope is that someone will fit your unique requests. Picky people can be as picky as they like and not feel guilty because of it. This is not to say that people abuse the process. Fake information is present, and people lie about average income because they can, and will get more responses that way.
The digital age is even being integrated, with devices that will be able to filter out their search results instantaneously at a bar, without having to sign up for an online dating account. Immediate satisfaction is highly desirable when finding future husbands and wives.
As we lose immediate contact with one another, we gain contact through digital channels. If you have ever seen the DVD of Terminator 2, you can conjure up in your mind all kinds of situations where people adopt technology to help themselves. In most cases this goes very wrong, but hopefully we can push online dating in a direction that will bring us together without the expense of growing apart. On the plus side online dating does save many of us money on wine and flowers.