Online dating lacks romance
By reach2freedatingsite, 12:05Couples no longer bother about lying that they met online. Why should they? The whole thing is so mainstream as to be banal. To meet in "real life" is becoming exotic.
Instead, this new sober, efficient approach to mating is attracting people in their millions: Fairfax-owned internet dating site RSVP boasts on its home page "1.3 million REAL singles and 1000 joining everyday".
The Wall Street Journal says US single dating sites average more than 20 million unique visitors a month, while Computer World says the market is expected to top $1 billion this year.
Young people aged 18 to 24 are looking online in big numbers. The internet is no longer a place of last resort, but a place to start the search. This critical mass has important implications not only for how we meet, but for how relationships are conducted.
Internet dating feels so much like shopping for a mate that it can't help but lend the pursuit of finding a partner a transactional vibe. Its terminology - browsing, surfing and box-ticking to ensure a correct match - is a far cry from "old-style" romance built on the language of chance encounters, romance, serendipity, sparks, eros and chemistry.
That online dating essentially involves looking through a massive catalogue of people that you whittle down by typing keywords into a search engine seems as distant from notions of discreet romance as you can get.
The era of choice, choice, choice is a hangover from the Long Boom where more was considered better. But I'd rather websites boasting "eight REAL singles" to make selection easier, make my expectations more realistic and less inclined to seek perfection.
The large volume of people available at the click of a mouse means it can be easier to discard a relationship that isn't working, because of a sense of abundance and possibility. Easy come, easy go. It may mean we do not stick at relationships as long as we should.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/online-dating-lacks-romance/2009/03/06/1236447093864.html


