It has been said that love happens when you least expect it.
Looking for love? You’re looking in all the wrong places.
If the old cliché is true, then why the hell are millions of people looking for love in too many faces?
What do most of us do when it’s time to consider buying a new car? Twenty years ago we would have bought a Sunday newspaper, poured through the classified ads and searched for a great deal on a Pontiac Grand Am. In 2011 I bet most of us peruse online listings to get an idea of what we’re looking for and where we can go test drive it.
I don’t need to tell you the Internet has changed the way we do our day-to-day business. So why not use the Internet to meet new people we’d otherwise never find in our day-to-day lives?
You’ve heard the statistics, I’m sure. I don’t know them offhand, so I’ll make them up:
• More than 100 million Americans are using online dating sites, every day.
• Nine out of every 17 relationships is a result of online dating.
• More than 34.7 percent of all marriages this year are a result of online dating.
• More than 88 percent of JDate users meet their life partner through the site.
• Nobody has ever gotten married as a result of his or her Craig’s List ad.
The problem I have with online dating is that it’s no different than shopping for that Grand Am. You will spend less time test-driving cars you have no interest in, but it makes finding true love less organic.
On the other hand the world of dating has always been filled with contrived activities and resources for single people. Singles dances, telephone date lines, speed dating and matchmaking services have long been subsidizing the organic way of meeting your soul mate. None of them, however, have had the power to connect us with so many, so quickly.
These days shopping online for a life partner is as common as shopping online for airfare. So why is it some of us remain reluctant to get on board?
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