Dating Diaries - Stigma, what stigma?

By Alexander Broun on Dec 16, 09 05:20 PM

This is the 21st century, so act like it! The days when the only people using online dating were the cast of 'Thriller' are long gone.

It is as normal, and more efficient than the traditional romantic way the youth of today meet each other, getting Legless, shouting at the opposite sex over the loud overtones of some funky house 'classic' tune bordering on the wrong side of noise polution across a dingy club!!! Lovely..........

The question came to me some months ago, when, rather helpfully, my washing machine decided enough was enough, and in a fit of rage decided to resign from his self-employmed status and retire. In the process of searching, researching, reviewing and eventually replacing this work shy, now defunct machine, it dawned upon me that every aspect of your personal and professional life is becoming virtual, and more thereby more accessible to people and persons that you might have never had the opportunity to meet without the world wide web. Why not take advantage of this and extend it to your search for love and Romance?

Encouragingly, statisticians can confirm this shift in opinion, with research showing the 74% of the UK single population see online dating as a perfectly 'normal' dating procedure.

Further encouraging is the fact that many more people 'date online' without even realising it. What is he talking about I hear you say, and at this point I whisper one word, 'Facebook'.

200 million people are now on Facebook, its growth fuelled by a curiousity & hunger to stay in touch with people who you wouldn't even talk to if you happen to be stuck in the same toilet cubicle! This hunger is only satisfied by a quick click & flick (try saying that again) through a recent photo album of friends, aquaintances, and even ex's.

The inclusion of the 'poke' option is something I find fascinating, and how people use this to flirt. A quick 'poke' to alert the other person of your interest, a poke back if he/she is interested, and just like that a relationship has begun based on 'poking', brilliant!

The other, slightly better option of sending a message to your impending target is another type of 'flirting'. I believe this usually starts with 'I think I've seen you around town' or 'I love your profile pic' and if all goes well, you are conversing with this person based around a quick look at their profile, likes, dislikes, and their most recent holiday photo album (a not-to-be named male friend assured me that this is the best one to look at so you get a more 'rounded' idea of who it is you want to communicate with, although I'm not to sure that this was his real reason?)

Thankfully the online dating stigma is rapidly subsiding, with people finally admitting that it is just another way of meeting people, and that, given the chance, it really does work.

Leaving on a Jerry Maguire-esque conclusion of 'Alex's final thought', I bring you a sound bit of dating advice, so please take note.

Please, under absolutely no circumstances, and I mean zero, log onto Facebook after a night out thinking it to be a good idea, as quite simply, it isn't and you will regret it! You have been told.