Cause of death: Online dating (by anon)

Online dating has blown up in popularity over the years.  It has come a long way from what it used to be and is still sometimes considered to be.  A haven for desperate freaks.  Though this stigma still comes up in thought and conversation from time to time it has been proven time and time again false.  Much like the irrational fear of airplanes crashing when we all know that the probability of crashing your car is more likely.  I am not saying everyone should not fear online dating but at least take an honest look at it.  After all it is a legitimate business worth over $4 billion dollars.  A number like that makes me think that maybe college isn't the best life pursuit.  After all, most of us go to college to make a lot of money so we can impress that 'man/woman of our dreams'.

It is not a secret that as a nation we have become more and more dormant creatures since before the creation of Myspace the original social network.  Today, so many people have countless online profiles.  In fact, you are in the minority if you do not have at least one.  Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and so many more.  But why do we feel that we need these outlets?  After all so many people before our generation never used the internet to meet and stay connected with friends or even to date.  They would have to travel to meet, send letters and wait days for a reply, or even call a house phone to talk to someone.  Now, we can push a couple of buttons and in seconds we can connect with total strangers and long lost friends.  Is this convenience killing our society as we know it?  And more importantly is online dating a potential assassin to romance as we know it?

Online dating sites are set up fairly simple.  You register as a member and in most cases you are able to sign up for free.  You then create a profile that accurately describes you and upload a recent photo of yourself.  From here the site does the hard work of searching for your mate for you.  The sites are designed to match you up with people who have compatible profiles to yours.  You then are suggested these potential partners and pursue a date from there on.  This sounds like it is simple and would work fairly well, right?  I do not think so.  As we know, people are self conscious of their true selves and often will stretch the content of their profile to make them sound better than they really are.  It is partially due to this that mismatches are made on the sites. 

On these sites we are also bombarded by options.  This is nice in the sense that we get choices but maybe we are given too many choices and the laws of location should not be stretched through the interweb.  What I mean by this is, maybe we simply should date more local and by what our social circles offer and not what some site offers.  This is because if we have too many choices to have is it not a risk that people are given even less of a chance to be your partner than in real life?  After all, the site says these people could be your Mr. or Mrs. Perfect so why waste your time on someone who messes up or seems to not be just that?

Another big problem I seem to have with online dating is the fact that you have to pay for a chance at love?  I understand the company needs to make money but they cannot guarantee you find a mate so why am I guaranteeing them my money?  Besides the fact, I have Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites at my free disposal and I could easily use them as a dating service if I so chose to.  So why even bother with this online dating craze?

After all,  my potential mates are flooding my inbox I couldn't possibly make a choice and if I do then there is little mystery about this person because I can just read the main discussion points and icebreakers off of their profile.  I have to pay to talk to them and pay for the dates with them anyways, later on?  This sounds like a scam if you ask me.  Prove me wrong!