Not THOSE warts silly. The ones that grown ups said you'd get if you touched frogs. Moving on...
Picture from brightlightsmycity.com.
Online dating is a big deal these days. Sites like Match.com, Eharmony and Plenty of Fish are seeing millions of visitors. According to a study conducted by the University of Rochester, 25 million unique users had online dating profiles worldwide in April 2011. But wait, there's more! This same study states that online dating is the second most common method for couples to meet. The first is meeting through friends. Between 2007 - 2009, a whopping 23.2% of couples revealed that they met online. Hmmm...perhaps Microsoft should replace that weird symbol on the number six with a heart. What the hell is that thing anyway?
Searching the web for your soul mate has historically carried a stigma. I, too, was a believer that online dating was for the desperate and lonely. However, an increasing number of singles are taking to the world wide web for companionship. So what has people flocking to their laptops and uploading their latest selfies?
Well, for one thing it's convenient. We live in an "always on" world where even groceries can be ordered online. I gave online dating a try simply because I was busy. I wasn't getting out much nor did I have the time to. That was about all of the motivation I needed to make my online dating debut. Being able to check my account leisurely provided me with ease and flexibility, which I desired at that time.
Another perk to dating online is variety. People like options. Having a marketplace of romantic prospects can be intriguing to some. It's kind of like shopping. Users can peruse the site of their choice, compare, return and exchange to their hearts' desires. I envision someone, somewhere saying, "I'd like that one right there, but with blue eyes." Sad, but true.
My first online experience was on Match. There weren't a whole lot of prospects within my radius and I'm cheap, so I switched to a free site called Plenty of Fish. Freebies have their perks (I mean because they're free), but you also find some pretty oddball stuff when no financial commitment is involved. Anytime a tagline reads, "got teeth, a car and a job", I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore Toto. But as always, I digress.
The thing about online dating is that people lie. No big revelation there, right? Here are a *few fun facts about some of the little white lies people place on their profiles:
- 80% lie about height, weight and physique
- 20% lie about income
- 42% of men and 32% of women lie about some aspect of their jobs
- OKcupid reported that over 1/3 of pictures on the site were over a year old
One can argue that people are deceptive whether in person or on the web. While this is true, the internet provides a means for more blatant shenanigans. You can't really hide your face on a date without raising some red flags. Either way, you might want to practice caressing your home row keys tenderly because online dating may very well be the wave of the future.
*Data provided by www.womensday.com & www.huffingtonpost.com.
