Love at First Type

Love at First Type

The phenomenon started with the Internet. Suddenly, everybody was attached through worldwide wires. People were free to exchange information with the click of a button, or two. Then, when AOL Instant Messenger hit the scene, people who lived in Michigan practically lived next to people in Tokyo, if they entered the right chat room, of course. They can do this all while doing their biology home work if need be. What is the Internet really good at - taking a huge amount of data and searching it quickly and efficiently (Davies 2). Consequently, the internet is about more than providing information on random things like trees in Greenland and talking to people that have never stepped foot on the same continent at the same time, it is about those people falling “in love” and meeting each other. Some see this new way of connecting with the outside world as unsafe, abnormal, and geeky. But in reality, the Internet revolutionized the dating industry and those uninvolved are missing out on something great.
Agreed, some sites exist where sick and twisted people, such as inmates on prisonpals.com, are allowed to post personals and talk in real time with women, young and old, exchanging what they miss about being free. In agreement with most Americans, Ian Ith wrote “I thought they were supposed to be in jail to be punished for a crime… why are they allowed to have their own web site so they can solicit girls?” No doubt, that idea would probably scare almost any mother into disallowing her daughter to chat on the internet, but the many of the people who are doing the dating are not under supervision of parents or legal guardians. Besides that, there are more than two hundred Internet dating sites for love – seekers to visit (Soulsman 2). That makes the chances of a woman landing at that site about five- thousandths of a percent. They have a better chance finding a site that could end up benefiting them with husbands than that. So really, what is there to worry about if one just watches where they click?
As expected, there could be those times when the date that an Internet dater ends up with could be a complete bust. This is especially disappointing when the person flew in from a thousand miles away. How bad could it feel if the disheartened date was so disheartened that he would have the audacity to cancel his date’s return ticket that he bought (Stoughton 2)? However, Internet dating sites have been reported to be relatively successful. Match.com, a service that attracts more than five million registered users, claims a minimum of 1,100 marriages and at least forty-five children (Stoughton 2). The marriage rate of a local bar or pub may be higher or lower, but the advantage that internet daters have is that they already know each other when they see each other for the first time.
Not all too long ago, Internet dating was seen as a way for losers to meet other losers. But now it is considered a viable and even pleasant alternative to the other ways people meet (Kornblum 1). The industry is evolving from a fringe lonely-hearts business to a legitimate Web service (Wen 1). For one, this revolutionary dating method is massively time consuming, “you can find people with similar interests quickly” (Davies 2). Who has the time now for person to person courting anymore in today’s busy world anyway (Wen 1)? The iDating world is not about looks, but about spelling, punctuation, and grammar. If someone misspells words or has fallen victim to bad grammar, most Internet daters will not even look at them (Wen 3). In short, intelligence is the key to Internet dating, not looks.
Even though the United States has more than broken through many racial barriers, ethnicity is one of the key success points to Internet dating. If one sees fit, he or she can “scan the world for a fair – skinned holder of an H-1 visa who wears a turban and wants kids” because services like IndianMarriages.com and suitableMatch.com delve directly into religion, origin, or caste, one’s social class in Hindu society, (Smith 3). Internet dating has become a prevalent way for modern day youngsters raised in societies where prearranged marriages exist to find an escape from thousands of years of tradition.
Clearly, Internet dating is the best thing to happen to dating since the telephone (Smith 1). The endless possibilities of the Internet reach their known peaks when it comes down to meeting people and talking to people one would not ever have dreamed of meeting.

Works Cited

Davies, Jennifer. “Cupid’s Clicks.” San Diego Union – Tribune
10 Feb. 2003. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Ith, Ian. “Killers Fishing Online for Pen Pals” Seattle Times
11 May 2001. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Kornblum, Janet. “Online Dating: No longer a ‘Geeky’ Domain.” USA Today
10 Feb. 2003. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Smith, Robert. “Web Makes Ethnic Spouse Easier to Find” Plain Dealer Report
27 Jan. 2003. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Soulsman, Gary. “Hearts Online” News Journal, The
26 Sept. 2000. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Stoeltje, Melissa Flotcher. “Customers look to Russia for Love” San Antonio Express – News
24 Dec. 2000. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Stoughton, Stephanie. “Log on, Find Love.” Boston Globe, The
11 Feb. 2001. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank

Wen, Patricia. “When Two Click Net Gives Singles Screening Room” Boston Globe, The
5 Apr. 2000. NewsBank. CD-ROM. NewsBank