Are online dating websites something that will continue to grow OR will they fade out?
We hear all types of statistics about how useful online dating is in finding the perfect match. I can go almost anywhere and bring up online dating and hear a sweet fairytale but true personal story about how a couple met online. As it turn out, it is hard to argue why you don't agree with online dating; however, I've found a new angle on the whole online dating thing. I'm not for or against it although I would never expect myself to choose those methods, neither can a lot of college students like myself. Anyway, when I thought about it I started to wonder if online dating is something that will continue to grow or if it is simple a dating fad of our time-like arranged marriages in our culture or marriage at the age of 13 where back in the day! I also wonder, with such a high divorce rate now- will future generations even bother trying to find love or try to completely avoid marriage? My generation (18-25) has seen divorce, whether it be in our own family, the kid we grew up to next door or the kids in our Science class, we've seen it. Our generation is used to seeing marriages and relationships fall apart, so will we even reach out for online dating like the older generations do? I don't think our generation is rushing to get married. No doubt, babies will still be born from our generation, but marriage will be something of negativity and RED FLAGS. So, why would online dating continue? Most online daters are of the "older" generation. Will we continue their path or find new ways to meet the love of our life?
This chart shows you WHY people in our generation might continue the trend of online dating... How can you deny the results?
No matter how amazing and guarnteed the statistics might be, I still think my generation is not ready to find the "love of our life" online. All I'm saying is, everyone is online, mix it up and find your true love walking down Main Street or enaging in love-at-first-SIGHT chemistry.
I think that people will keep using the online dating sites because our lives are so hectic. It does seem like less and less believe in marriage so it might be used for just causal dating and not finding Mr. Right. The ironic thing is that I think a lot of marriages and relationships in general fail because of the internet. It's like - Meet your soul mate on Match.com but make sure he is not meeting other soul mates online behind your back!
ReplyDeleteAh, I have a lot of insights on this topic because I did an "ethnography" of it when I was single and mid-40s and newly-divorced. I think the generational difference (and the reason it might not appeal to your age group as much) is that you have plenty of opportunities in college to be around single people of the opposite sex all the time, and there are lots of opportunities for socializing. Those drop rapidly when you enter 30s and above, so it's especially hard for older singles or divorced people to meet others unless you're into the bar scene (which I wasn't)--especially if you want to meet someone distinctively different from the kind of people you'd meet at a bar or party.
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