We are lucky enough to live in a time when we can pretty much access whatever it is that we want online. We can buy clothes, order food, text mom and get directions to pretty much anywhere. We are the generation of instant gratification. We want what we want when we want it. How has that changed us when it comes to our romantic and dating lives?
Online dating is something that is pretty controversial for adults. What used to be something simply thought of for old spinsters or recent divorcees is now becoming popular among college students. The age gap is growing wider for people to create a profile and search for Mr. or Mrs. Right. But how do you feel about it?
We are all guilty of watching at least one episode of “Catfish”, where they typically highlight the worst case scenario. You know, like when the person finds out that their love interest was actually lying about their identity, peddling them for money, has creepy fetishes or in general was just a complete loser?
However, in our normal day-to-day world, more college students have turned to online dating to improve their romantic lives. In just the past couple of years, numerous dating sites began popping up solely for college students alone. Datemyschool.com is a popular one, where students must register with a college email address in order to gain membership. Some other popular dating websites targeted mostly toward young adults are OkCupid, Plenty Of Fish and Zoosk, just to name a few.
College is an environment purposely set up for meeting new people. However, on a campus as big and diverse as Stony Brook, this can prove be a challenging task. For those who are shy or tend to stray away from the sometimes-daunting bar scene, online dating provides the opportunity to search through potential prospects within your own comfort zone. Online dating allows students to narrow their searches, from things such as sexual preference or religion to something as specific as particular hobbies. Even the pickiest romantic is typically able to find somebody who shares similar interests with them through the magical, advanced search engine.
These days, we typically foster our relationships via the phone or computer screen. Think about all of the friends and family that you text on a daily basis. You even directly correspond with your professors via email (because lets face it, we are either too intimidated or lazy to ask them a question in person). So, since we use typically use technology to communicate with everybody else, should we college students give online dating a chance to help us find someone special? I have not done it personally, but I think that it is something worth giving a fair chance. Obviously, it is ideal to have face-to-face contact with that cute guy or girl in your bio class, but if you are as awkward as I am, then maybe creating an account is worth a shot. (Just do not give your credit card information if asked).
