OUR VIEW: Single? Online dating may not be the answer
Ready or not, St. Valentine’s Day is in full swing, and once again the single population is about to be reminded of how hopeless they truly are. People everywhere are about to be – if they aren’t already – made painfully aware of their singleness as couples show, with displays of chocolates and flowers, what they could’ve had if they weren’t so helplessly alone.
During these trying times, it can be hard for the “relationship challenged” to keep from feeling frustrated. When you’ve played the dating game for years and it just isn’t working, it can start to feel like a lost cause. This is where dating sites often come into play.
Websites like E-harmony, Zoosk, Yahoo Personals and Match.com offer an enticing option for individuals who are fed up with real-world dating. It’s convenient for the lazy and the homebody – you can date without even changing out of your pajamas! But there are things you should consider before making that leap into the ever-growing world of cyber-dating.
Consider this: the reason a person would even feel inclined to sign up for an online dating service would be because there isn’t a single person that they know in the real world who wants to date them. It might be okay for you to sign-up, but do you really want to date someone like that?
Also, the Internet provides a level of anonymity in which anyone can take on any persona that they want. And yes, this even includes dating sites. You might be flirting with John, a 25-year-old insurance agent online, but in reality be flirting with John, a 39-year-old unemployed man who collects cat skulls. The point is that you never know who you are dealing with when you are online.
With recent concerns such as Facebook’s privacy problems, it is also worth mentioning that your information – such as the information given to sites to create compatibility with the other online daters – may not be secure. Even on trusted dating sites, information is still on the web, which always leaves risk that it coul be leaked.
Certain dating sites can also prove costly—for example, E-harmony’s monthly subscription costs about $20-$60 per month. That’s a lot of money to be paying to meet someone – something that is normally free.
Given these and other problems associated with online dating, why not just do dating the old-fashioned way, like your parents and grandparents? There’s something romantic about real, face-to-face meetings with people, and best of all, talking to people in real life is free! If love is what you’re looking for, Utah State University offers no shortage of single people who want love, too.
Don’t give up, singles! The road to matrimony might seem long and full of potholes, but it will all be worth it in the end. In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to look for opportunities around you. You never know who will suddenly come into your life and turn Singles Awareness Day into the best Valentine’s Day ever.