I once overheard a father telling his teenage son how he met his mother. Thankfully, the story didn’t last 9 and a half years as the American TV show suggested, but I noticed how puzzled the son looked when his father explained how he ‘courted’ his mother.
Fancy that. Dating someone in REAL LIFE. Taking them out to see a film, or a meal. What does that even mean?
The turn of the New Media Age we live in sparked the ever-growing interest in dating online through apps, websites with subscriptions and even our favourite social media networks. We’re seeing less of each other, but finding a more comfortable way to get involved, get to know and for some, get it on.
While many who subject themselves to online dating fear the inevitable Catfish-esque situations from happening, we realise how hard and crap dating in real life actually is. Gone are the days in primary school where a pre-teen would excitedly tick the ‘yes’ box to a cute ‘Will You Be My Girlfriend/Boyfriend?’ message on a scrap of paper. Or even the times where we would sit sweaty-palmed in a cinema with our latest crush who uncomfortably asked us ‘out’.
Now with these apps, like Tinder and Grindr, or our usual sites, like Facebook and Twitter, finding ‘The One’ is a lot less strenuous than we remember.
A few years ago, I met my boyfriend for the first time in St Pancras station after spending 5 months chatting to him on Twitter. Random, I know, but it was really easy to find out that we shared love for the same band, the same genre of music and the same football team. We had even been to the same gigs at the same time but with different people. So when it came to meeting him for the first time, it wasn’t hard as the blind dates friends might suggest; actually it was nice as we could discuss what we had in common and see the light and joy in our faces when we did so.
Similarly, FaceTiming and Skyping lets us eradicate the idea that we might be talking to an over-weight 40-year-old part-time electrician, full-time World of Warcraft gamer. It let me put a face to the Twitter handle and develop an actual friendship, rather than the one previously built on 140 characters.
Online dating is a bit of a taboo subject. For ages, I was worried about telling friends and family members where we actually ‘met’ in case they thought less of me. But really, they were quite surprised by this cool, 21st century way of finding that special someone that many wouldn’t consider. You’re able to get to know someone without picking the parts of their face or body that you don’t like; vanity is no longer an issue when you realise you share the same aspirations for the future. Thinking about it; online dating might actually make better people of us all.
