Across the globe, you see “Internet daters,” with their eyes glued to a screen, scrolling through a seemingly endless number of photos and one-line bios for a date. Oh, the possibilities…
First, someone who enjoys long walks on the beach, hand-in-hand, while watching the sunset. Swipe right. Ah, an aspiring actor, who is also a vegan chef, yoga instructor and philosopher, searching for the meaning of life. Next. An animal lover, who has adopted five homeless puppies and one cat.
Dating app Hinge has just been recently released in Canada after seeing success in the U.S. (Courtesy of Hinge)
Just like that, the creation of an Internet-dating lifer begins.
According to an American research centre more than 60 per cent of daters have gone on a date with someone they met online, up 20 per cent from 2005. About 23 per cent of these people said they entered into a marriage or a long-term relationship with someone they met online.
In February, a new dating app, Hinge, was launched in Toronto after much success in the U.S.
The app hopes to skip one-time dates and find people a lifelong mate.
The better question is: If Hinge is looking to find a lifelong mate, what are the other apps and Internet sites doing?
Let’s go back to the actor-chef-yogi-philosopher. Wonder if they ever considered this online dating as the meaning of life? You never have to settle down, never have to pick for yourself, because the options on the Internet are limitless.
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People start to develop expectations of the “dream human” outside the realm of reality and old-fashioned chemistry. And, thus, human interactions suffer.
Yes, the Internet can boost chance encounters.
But Internet-dating “lifers” have become too reliant on the “magic” of online dating to go out and actually find themselves a date.
This story first appeared in The Ryersonian on March 25, 2015.
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