Until recently, online dating sites earned a reputation of having an endless supply of middle-aged, balding men who emulate the personality of a doorknob. People thought users of online dating sites were desperate and undesirable. It was considered strange to talk to someone you had never met to make plans to meet them in person (and then go through with it). It’s still a foreign concept to some, but according to a recent study, 41,250,000 people in the U.S. don’t think it’s foreign at all and have, in fact, given it a try.
According to this study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, a whopping one out of every three marriages originates from an online dating site. So this thing works—and why wouldn’t it? The sites congregate a bunch of people on a public forum looking to date someone, with the intent to marry.
If you are on a dating site, you are ready to settle down. No 43-year-old man-child who goes to the club every night to get drunk and wants to sleep with a different woman every night will be on there. These online daters know what they want, and the average time of courtship proves just that. According to Statistic Brain, the average length of courtship between two people meeting offline is 42 months. According to the same source, the average length of courtship when meeting online is 18.5 months. They want to get hitched. It’s as simple as that—or is it?
Like I said before, that 43-year-old won’t be on a dating site, but now a 20-year-old might be. It’s called DateMySchool, and it’s an online dating site specifically for college kids. All you need is a valid college email address and a desire to find a smart significant other. With the slogan “Educated people, educated dates,” this site pairs college students with other college students who share the same goals. One can even narrow their search down to what school and major they want their dream guy or girl to be from.
“If somebody really has their heart set on meeting someone from Princeton, this is a great way to narrow down the search,” said Julie Spira, dating expert and author of “The Perils of Cyber Dating.”
Now that is degrading and snobby.
If someone is only concerned with if his or her future partner went to a prestigious school or majored in engineering, that person is confused as to what love truly is. Love is not dictated by dollar signs. Obviously, if they want their significant other to be from Princeton, they want money.
Why are college students so gung-ho about finding someone anyway? They are young, and finding significant others shouldn’t be their first priority. If it happens, it happens, but I don’t think young people should go on a site, type restrictions into boxes and pick someone based on his or her profile picture. They have their whole lives to find partners. And they are narrowing their options by only allowing college students to try for their heart. What if your soul mate didn’t go to college? You are missing out on true love because of an online dating site.
Online dating is okay for people who have some social anxiety issues or feel like they have played the field enough, but online dating is not okay when it is only limited to an educated population.
