Can't Find A Date?
There used to be plenty of stigma attached to
online dating, but current numbers don't lie: More people are now
beginning to accept (and use!) online dating sites as a legitimate
matchmaking tool.
The Internet has made inroads into practically every facet of human
life, but nowhere is its application more mind boggling, and yes,
questioned and stigmatized than in helping people find love.
Estimated to be worth $4 billion, online dating is a robust and fast
growing industry. As of 2009, there were approximately 1,400 online
dating sites in North America alone. When it comes to playing Cupid
between strangers on opposite sides of the globe who would otherwise
not meet each other if it were not for the Internet, it appears that
existing online dating platforms have only scratched the surface.
Various technologies continue to emerge to improve the way people meet
potential mates online. It used to be that online dating sites mainly
relied on users' personal information and interests in matching
couples, today, there are such things as mathematical algorithms and
facial recognition, video dating, and virtual dating (blends online
dating with online gaming).
Online dating as we know it today
came to the surface in the 90s, but
its roots date back to the 1700s when the first matrimonial service was
set up. The service ran ads by singles who had limited opportunities to
find a companion.
Even before the Internet was created, singles were able to connect
through newsgroups and bulletin boards services, but these encounters
were only considered incidental. The first service that was created
specifically for the purpose of dating was Matchmaker.com which started
as a dial-up bulletin board system. Matchmaker.com became a full-blown
Web dating service in the 1990s and now has 7 million users.
Match.com soon followed suit and is credited as the first actual
Internet dating service. By mid-90s, a host of online dating services
have sprouted, like eHarmony and Yahoo Personals.
There was so much stigma attached to the Internet being a medium for
romantic connections, with people who used these services viewed as
desperate and foolish. Remnants of that stigma still exist today, but
online dating has become so popular many are now willing to push their
skepticism to the backseat and try it for themselves.
What's there to like about online dating? Many free singles
dating
services offer more variety and the bonus is that, one doesn't have to
leave the confines of the home to go search for a mate. Even those too
shy to strike a conversation with people in the real world often
experience less anxiety chatting up strangers on the Web.
Online dating also appeals to middle-aged individuals who hate the
harsh predictability of the club dating scene: the younger ones get hit
on and pair up more frequently and quickly, often leaving the older
ones feeling like an outcast. The Internet offers an age-friendly, more
neutral alternative.
In America alone, 40 million singles---that's about 40 percent of the
adult American singles population---use online dating services. And
online dating companies find that when it comes to finding romance,
Americans don't put a ceiling on how much they are willing to spend. In
2007, Americans splurged $500 million on web dating services, pushing
online dating to the second spot next to pornography as the highest
industry for paid Web content.
Nearly 20 million people access at least one online dating Website on
any given month, and online dating factors in about 120,000 marriages
that take place yearly, says Online Dating Magazine. In stark contrast,
experts say those who prefer to sit on a bar stool only has a 2 percent
chance of actually landing a date.
Web dating is no longer a fad---it is becoming a tradition and, whether
one likes it or not, it's here to stay. Wired Magazine predicted in
2002 that in 20 years, it would be silly, if not unthinkable, for
anyone to look for a mate and not give online dating a try.
